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Article published In: Dialogue and Ways of Relating
Edited by Huey-Rong Chen
[Language and Dialogue 10:1] 2020
► pp. 74–96

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After mobilization

Youth, political engagement, and online performance in Hong Kong

 | Lingnan University (Hong Kong)
Published online: 19 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00060.ip
Abstract
My research addresses how social actors “act upon” social change by generating self-interpretation and representation of social life on the one hand and control over values and cultural orientations against the authorities on the other. While the existing literature on social movements overemphasizes the moments of mobilization, this article examines the intersections of social activism, online curative practices, and their everyday life. For this article, I opted to depict three representative cases of Hong Kong young activists who joined the Umbrella Movement in 2014. I argue that despite their similar political experiences, there are three divergent forms of agency embodied in their cultural representations. They figure in contestations which increasingly alienate the politicized crowd from civil society and the establishment.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Ethnography, the Internet, and Hong Kong
  • 3.Society as a site of contestations through experiences
    • 3.1Williams: Nostalgic nationalism
    • 3.2Charles: A sectarian youth
    • 3.3Stephen: Voluntarism and civil society
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (60)
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2025. Between consciousness and conscience: on ‘restorative commoning’ among moderate youth. Cultural Studies 39:3 ► pp. 334 ff. DOI logo

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