A. AFOUXENIDIS
An ongoing discussion in current research is concerned with
the question of whether the level of political participation in the
industrialized or post-industrial world is low. The academic
debate is split into two main arguments. Firstly, Putnam (2000)
argued that political participation is decreasing as the level of
social capital in society decreases and political apathy increases.
On the other hand, (Dalton, 2008; Dahlgren 2009) it has been
suggested that political participation is merely changing, taking
new forms, as post-materialist values (Inglehart, 1977) become
more salient, with social capital being readjusted. Consequently,
instead of, for example becoming members of political parties
and other such formal organizations, citizens are now engaged
outside of the traditional political system (Micheletti, 2003).
Since the rapid spread of internet connections in the 1990s,
social science has increasingly turned its eyes towards examin-
ing the web as a mechanism of a more democratic future or, as
a process which acts as yet another catalyst in terms of concen-
trating power into the hands of the few (Hindman, 2008). The
development of applications often referred to as Web 2.0 and
social media over the past ten years, combined with evidence of
new forms of rapid networked mobilization (Castells, 2001;
Atton, 2003), created a renewed interest in the effects of tech-
nology on civic activism and overall political participation.
There is a sort of historical element throughout various analyses
which spans for a period of over 25 years at least: initially,
during the 1990s, the web was discussed primarily as a sort of
cyberspace (Featherstone & Burrows, 1995; Star, 1995; Jones,
1995; Aronowitz, Martinsons, & Menser, 1996). This was also
exposed in popular culture via movies such as the Matrix and
others, which explored this idea to the fullest and which pre-
sented a kind of post-apocalyptic dystopian future. In addition,
technological development was also critically examined by
questioning the assumptions that it will necessarily lead to bet-
ter time s (Finnegan, Salaman, & Thompson, 1987; Pacey, 1994;
Robins & Webster, 1999). During the 2000s the web was de-
scribed more as a virtual space which produces and regenerates
various sorts of virtual societies and communities. It is only
recently, that the “net” has begun to be appreciated more close-
ly to what it actually is, namely another realm of everyday real-
ity. Therefore, in our view, although the distinction offline/
online may still have some methodological validity, it is be-
coming progressively defunct as a useful analytical tool. It is
more interesting to actually examine the two realities in unison
rather than in opposition. The evidence of the research pre-
sented in this paper attempts to look at the use of the net
through the lens described above.
A Note on Theory and Research Methodology
In our view, advances in computing power increased enorm-
ously the possibilities for research within the social sciences
fields. It has also helped in gathering and exchanging informa-
tion quickly across and among different strands of research,
thus generating interesting and substantial flows of information
and hard data. Additionally, the broad range, scope and volume
of data which can be analyzed have also increased.
However, this does not necessarily mean that theorizing, or
exploring new ways to do research, has significantly changed
within the social and political sciences. More than often, espe-
cially with regards to issues such as the one we are exploring
here, substantial problems and issues of the academic research
community have remained intact. For example, with regards to,
say, political sociology and/or sociology in general, the fact that
the field has already been broken down into smaller, sometimes
highly specialized sub-fields, meant that on many occasions
research is not directly related to the basic theoretical strands of
contemporary sociological thought (Afouxenidis, 2012). In
other words, fragmenting the field coupled by the ever-in-
creasing need for quick answers and responses to various social
issues, has lead to a peculiar sort of methodological standardi-
zation: individuals or groups of scientists doing research using,
more or less, similar or the same techniques irrespective of
what is actually being researched. This type of methodological
“impoverishment” can be partly explained by the loss of vigor-
ous theoretical argumentation (Turnsek & Jankowski, 2008).
With regards, to the case of studying the net and/or social
media, a number of interesting observations can be made. In
general, research remains fragmented and highly empiricist.
Research techniques are generally based on gathering huge
volumes of data, often with no real consideration on their actual
validity, such as what sort of evidence can be usefully utilized,
or how and in what ways web data can be correlated to non-
web data. Also, comparative elements which are always perti-
nent in researching society seem to be missing. For example,
researchers and academic institutions have done a lot of work
on, say, new social media without accounting for possible si-
milarities and/or differences amongst them. Another example is
related to the fact that a lot of net research is primarily focused
on the individual actor rather than on the possible collective
impact social networking may have on individuals. Thus, issues
such as diversity, projection of identity and political behaviour,
are simply reflected by researchers rather than critically inter-
rogated. The opportunity to gather large amounts of data, does
not necessarily mean that social scientists understand or are
able to explain societal organization and behaviour more in
depth than previously, especially when adequate theorizing is
lacking.
Political Participation: The Case Study
Underlying the basic research concept was the idea that de-
mocratization in the world of inter-connectedness, may reflect
new types of political participation compatible with, or even
brought about by, technological change.
The current economic and social crisis in Greece, has
brought forward elements connected to the theme of political
participation which generally involved the urban youth and
some particular collectivities, which played an active part in
popular mobilizations since the beginning of the crisis. In gen-
eral, mobilizations shared one basic characteristic: they existed
offline and they mobilized by using online technologies as well
as traditional methods.
However, the group of unemployed/underemployed univer-
sity lecturers, presented an interesting differentiation to the
above: it became organized mainly because of the creation of
an internet platform via which news, ideas and methods of mo-
bilization could be rapidly exchanged.
The main narrative behind the study is connected to the fact
that because of the severity of the economic crisis the govern-
ment decided to freeze all newcomer lecturers from entering the
This platform is still a ctive at
e.jimdo.com/2011/02/27/%CE%B1-%CE%BB%CE%AD%CE
%BA%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%82
-%CF%83%CF%84
%CE%BF-%CF%88%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%B5%CE%AF %CE%BF/
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