clicktivism

English

Etymology

Blend of click +‎ activism

Noun

clicktivism (uncountable)

1. (informal, derogatory) Half-hearted activism on the Internet, lacking actual engagement with the real-world issues.

   Synonym: slacktivism

   Hypernym: cyberactivism

   Coordinate term: hacktivism

   • 2015, Todd A. Comer, What Comes After Occupy?, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 217:

     White argues that clicktivist sites (like MoveOn.org) are able to bolster their numbers by asking little of the “activists”. Hence, clicktivism potentially waters down the impact of lowcost forms of activism (like e-petitions).

   • 2019 May 23, Owen Jones, “Woke-washing: how brands are cashing in on the culture wars”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     But there’s another danger, too. “Clicktivism” is a well-documented phenomenon, where people click on an online petition and think that their work is done, without actually having an impact on the world.

   • 2020, Dave Karpf, “After clicktivism”, in William H. Dutton, editor, A Research Agenda for Digital Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing, →ISBN, page 123:

     Gladwell's article captured the zeitgeist of the moment, in which researchers and journalists were wondering aloud about the dangers of ‘clicktivism’ (or ‘slacktivism’) and asking how the new digital activism compared to older forms of street activism.

Related terms

• clicktivist

Translations

activism on the Internet

• Catalan: clictivisme m
• French: clictivisme (fr) m
• Portuguese: cliquetivismo m
• Spanish: clictivismo (es) m