Building Narrative Capacity in Mediatized Times: A Study of KOD Social Movement in Poland

Barbara Brodzińska-Mirowska, Łukasz Wojtkowski

Abstract


This paper focuses on the development of the narrative capacities of KOD social movement in Poland that were shaped in the mediatization process. Firstly, we assume that the analysis of a discursive character of movements’ political and media operations can expose how KOD constructs its narration and how the media deconstructs it. Secondly, since KOD operates in a highly media saturated environment, the study of how the movement appropriates communication technologies and uses them in everyday practices is essential. We conduct the research within the framework of critical discourse studies (CDS) where we combine interviews (IDIs) with the movement’s leaders and a content analysis of organized media outlets to collect textual data. The data enabled us to track how KOD social movement builds its narrative capacity in the process of mediatization, and in particular, how KOD’s narrative capacity is manifested in the movement’s discursive practices, and how media deconstructed KOD’s narrative capacity. The research showed that KOD representatives deploy the narrative frame of the significant role of the ICT and the media in the functioning of the movement. As the results indicate, discursive practices aimed at building narrative capacity were oriented towards adaptation to functioning in a mediatized communication environment. However, the results of our research showed that KOD could be characterized as a fragile movement and failed to build a stable narrative capacity.


Keywords


narrative capacity; mediatization; fragile social movement; social media; critical discourse analysis (CDA); qualitative research

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ayoub, P.M., & Chetaille, A. (2017). Movement/Countermovement Interaction and Instrumental Framing in a Multi-Level World: Rooting Polish Lesbian and Gay Activism. Social Movement Studies, 19(1), 1–17. http://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2017.1338941

Baczyński, J. (2016, May 10). Przeżyj to sam. Polityka.

Bd. (2017, July 9). Polski „Macron” narodzi się w mediach społecznościowych. I może pokonać PiS. Pytanie: kiedy? Polityka.

Bennett, S. (2018). Constructions of Migrant Integration in British Public Discourse: Becoming British. London: Bloomsbury Academics.

Bennett, W.L., & Segerberg, A. (2013). Th Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bennett, W.L., & Segerberg, A. (2015). Communication in Movements. In D. Della Porta & M. Dani (Eds.), Th Oxford Handbook of Social Movements (pp. 1–19). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bennett, W.L., Segerberg, A., & Knüpfer, C.B. (2018). Th Democratic Interface: Technology, Political Organization, and Diverging Patterns of Electoral Representation. Information, Communication & Society, 21(11), 1655–1680.

Beylin, M. (2017, July 1). Co zamiast IV RP? Gazeta Wyborcza.

Brodzińska-Mirowska, B., & Wojtkowski, Ł. (2017). Is There Any Future for Research on the Mediatization of Politics? In O. Driessens, A. Hepp, S. Hjarvard, & G. Bolin (Eds.), Dynamics of Mediatization (pp. 137–153). London: Palgrave Macmillan. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62983-4_7

Carrigan, M. (2016). Th Fragile Movements of Late Modernity. In M.S. Archer (Ed.), Morphogenesis and the Crisis of Normativity (pp. 191–215). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

CBOS. (2016). Analiza motywów zwolenników i przeciwników obecnej władzy. Raport z Badań, 103/2016.

Dorn, L. (2016, May 30). Przytrzymać moc. Gazeta Wyborcza.

Ellingson, S. (1995). Understanding the Dialectic of Discourse and Collective Action: Public Debate and Rioting in Antebellum Cincinnati. American Journal of Sociology, 101(1), 100–144.

Esser, F., & Matthes, J. (2013). Mediatization Effect of Political News, Political Actors, Political Decision and Political Audience. In H. Kriesi, S. Lavenex, F. Esser, J. Matthes, M. Bühlmann, & D. Bochsler (Eds.), Democracy in the Age of Globalization and Mediatization (pp. 177–201).

London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fine, G.A. (1995). Public Narration and Group Culture: Discerning Discourse in Social Movements. In H. Johnston & B. Klandermans (Eds.), Social Movements and Culture (pp. 127–143). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Gerbaudo, P. (2012). Tweets and the Streets. Social Media and Contemporary Activism. London: Pluto Press.

González-Bailón, S., & Wang N. (2016). Networked Discontent: Th Anatomy of Protest Campaigns in Social Media. Social Networks, 44, 95–104.

Groshek, J., & Koc-Michalska, K. (2017). Helping Populism Win? Social Media Use, Filter Bubbles, and Support for Populist Presidential Candidates in the 2016 US Election Campaign. Information, Communication & Society, 20(9), 1389–1407.

Holzscheiter, A. (2005). Discourse as Capability: Non-State Actors’ Capital in Global Governance. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 33(3), 723–746.

Johnston, H., & Klandermans, B. (Eds.). (1995). Social Movements and Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Karolewski, I.P. (2016). Protest and Participation in Post-Transformation Poland: The Case of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD). Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 49(3), 1–13. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2016.06.003

Kaun, A., Kyriakidou, M., & Uldam, J. (2016). Political Agency at the Digital Crossroads? Media and Communication, 4(4), 1–7.

Klandermans, B., & Goslinga, S. (1996). Media Discourse, Movement Publicity, and the Generation of Collective Action Frames: Thoretical and Empirical Exercises in Meaning Construction. In D. McAdam, J.D. McCarthy, & M.N. Zald (Eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Social

Movements Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Framing (pp. 312–337). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Leszczyński, A., & Pacewicz, P. (2017, April 23). Góra ciągnie KOD w dół. Retreived from https://oko.press/gora-ciagnie-kod-dol-danuta-kuron-byloby-straszne-gdyby-padlo/

Mattoni, A., & Treré, E. (2014). Media Practices, Mediation Processes, and Mediatization in the Study of Social Movements. Communication Thory, 24(3), 252–271.

Mazzoleni, G., & Schulz, W. (1999). Mediatization of Politics: A Challenge for Democracy? Political Communication, 16(3), 247–261.

Meardi, G. (2005). Th Legacy of ‘Solidarity’: Class, Democracy, Culture and Subjectivity in the Polish Social Movement. Social Movement Studies, 4(3), 261–280. http://doi.org/10.1080/14742830500330075

Michnik, A. (2016, May 16). Zobaczyłem drugą twarz Polski. In the interview with Dominika Wielowieyska. Gazeta Wyborcza.

Mikulak, M. (2019). Between the Market and the Hard Place: Neoliberalization and the Polish LGBT Movement. Social Movement Studies, 18(5), 550–565. http://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2019.1598353

Moffi, B. (2018). Populism 2.0: Social Media and the False Allure of ‘Unmediated’ Representation. In G. Fitzi, J. Mackert, & B.S. Turner (Eds.), Populism and the Crisis of Democracy. Vol. 2: Politics, Social Movements and Extremism (pp. 30–46). New York: Routledge.

Molek-Kozakowska, K., & Wanke, M. (2019). Reproductive Rights or Duties? Th Rhetoric of Division in Social Media Debates on Abortion Law in Poland. Social Movement Studies, 18(5), 566–585. http://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2019.1629279

Payerhin, M., & Ernesto Zirakzadeh, C. (2006). On Movement Frames and Negotiated Identities: The Case of Poland’s First Solidarity Congress. Social Movement Studies, 5(2), 91–115. http://doi.org/10.1080/14742830600807386

Pytlakowski, P. (2017, July 25). Nasze ulice. Polityka.

Rolicki, J. (2016, May 30). Miecz Damoklesa nad głową Kaczyńskiego. Gazeta Wyborcza.

Schulz, W. (2004). Reconstructing Mediatization as an Analytical Concept. European Journal of Communication, 1(19), 87–101.

Strömbäck, J. (2008). Four Phases of Mediatization: An Analysis of the Mediatization of Politics. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 13(3), 228–246.

Strömbäck, J. (2011). Mediatization and Perceptions of the Media’s Political Inflence. Journalism Studies, 12(4), 423–439.

Strömbäck, J., & Esser, F. (2014a). Mediatization of Politics: Towards a Thoretical Framework. In J. Strömbäck & F. Esser (Eds.), Mediatization of Politics: Understanding the Transformation of Western Democracies (pp. 3–28). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Strömbäck, J., & Esser, F. (2014b). Mediatization of Politics. Transforming democracies and Reshaping Politics. In K. Lundby (Ed.), Mediatization of Communication. Handbooks of Communication Science (pp. 375–397). Boston: De Gruyter Mounton.

Strömbäck, J., & Esser, F. (2014c). Making Sense of the Mediatization of Politics. Journalism Studies, 15(3), 243–255.

Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and Tear Gas. Th Power and Fragility of Networked Protests. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Unger, J.W., Wodak, R., & Khosravink, M. (2016). Critical Discourse Studies and Social Media Data. In D. Silverman (Ed.), Qualitative Research (pp. 1170–1241). London: SAGE.

Vaccari, C. (2017). Online Mobilization in Comparative Perspective: Digital Appeals and Political Engagement in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Political Communication, 30, 69–88.

Wołek, T. (2016, May 7). Od W do B. Komitet Obrony Demokracji daje emocje. Polityka.

Żakowski, J. (2017, July 22). W symetrystach nadzieja. Gazeta Wyborcza.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ms.2021.5.19-36
Date of publication: 2022-06-07 09:57:07
Date of submission: 2021-11-09 11:59:24


Statistics


Total abstract view - 542
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Barbara Brodzińska-Mirowska, Łukasz Wojtkowski

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.