Social media and connective action: The case of the Saudi women’s movement for the right to drive

ORCID Identifiers

0000-0001-5572-440X

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

New Media and Society

Publication Date

1-1-2020

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2020. This article explored the use of social media and mobile communication by women in Saudi Arabia who campaigned for the right to drive from 1990. Due to the globally unique ban on women driving in the Kingdom, females always needed a male driver to transport them. The Saudi government announced in September 2017 that women would be allowed to drive from June 2018. Using the theory of connective action, the article explored the role of social media in the movement for the right to drive, and looked at how activists used digital media platforms to get their messages across to the Saudi publics and the international community. Findings showed that both connective action and collective action offer tactics that can complement each other in an online movement. In addition, results offer in-depth insights about the role of identity in online movements. Threats to and limitations of online movements are also discussed.

ISSN

1461-4448

Publisher

SAGE Publications Ltd

First Page

146000000000000

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Activism, connective action, messaging apps, Saudi Arabia, social media, Twitter, women, YouTube

Scopus ID

85088306611

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Bronze: This publication is openly available on the publisher’s website but without an open license

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