GHU Logo
The Great Heights University Library
Academic discovery, digital access, and research support

Black networks matter : the role of interracial contact and social media in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests /

Simonson, Matthew David,

Black networks matter : the role of interracial contact and social media in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests / Matthew David Simonson [and four others]. - 1 online resource (85 pages) : digital, PDF file(s). - Cambridge elements. Elements in contentious politics, 2633-3570 . - Cambridge elements. Elements in contentious politics, .

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Feb 2024).

Open Access.

Scholars have long recognized that interpersonal networks play a role in mobilizing social movements. Yet, many questions remain. This Element addresses these questions by theorizing about three dimensions of ties: emotionally strong or weak, movement insider or outsider, and ingroup or cross-cleavage. The survey data on the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests show that weak and cross-cleavage ties among outsiders enabled the movement to evolve from a small provocation into a massive national mobilization. In particular, the authors find that Black people mobilized one another through social media and spurred their non-Black friends to protest by sharing their personal encounters with racism. These results depart from the established literature regarding the civil rights movement that emphasizes strong, movement-internal, and racially homogenous ties. The networks that mobilize appear to have changed in the social media era. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

9781009415842 (ebook)


Black lives matter movement.
Mass media and race relations--United States.
African Americans--Social conditions--21st century.
Social movements--United States--21st century.

E185.86 / .S56 2024

305.896/073