Performative activism or performativity of activism: From conceptualization to research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu12.2024.202Abstract
If modern theories of performativity seek to provide an explanation of how reality is fulfilled (produced), taking into account meanings, people and various material objects in their consideration, then social activism is a phenomenon that well demonstrates the main intention of performativity — joint execution and transformation of reality (through solving social problems). To find out how social activism is studied with the help of performativity theories, we directed research attention inside this subject field, where a paradox was discovered in the semantic relationship between the definitions of performative activism and performativity of activism. If the term “performative activism” acquires its semantic content emphasizing the opposition between words (posts) and real actions to solve social problems, then the theories of performativity themselves were developed precisely on the basis of removing the opposition between words and actions. The discovered paradox of using the term “performativity” allowed us to formulate the problem of research as uncertainty about the features of conceptualization of the performative dimension of social activism. Therefore, the aim of the work was to review the literature aimed at clarifying how modern researchers conceptualize social activism, based on the resources of scientific theories of performativity, and not on the media understanding of this term. Based on the analysis of the selected articles (N = 13), the following topics were highlighted: the performativity of activism and the fight against oppression; activism and the methodology of performativity by Judith Butler; the performativity of digital activism; theorizing about the performativity of activism. It is concluded that these topics are characterized by the use of left-progressive theories, low attention to how exactly activists produce a new reality by solving social problems (researchers often attribute a priori positions to them), as well as weak use of empirical data, which opens up prospects for more rigorous sociological studies of the performativity of social activism.
Keywords:
performative turn, performativity, social activism, health activism, Judith Butler, digital activism
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Литература
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Published
2025-01-17
How to Cite
Tkachenko, K. V. (2025). Performative activism or performativity of activism: From conceptualization to research. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Sociology, 17(2), 141–158. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu12.2024.202
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Theory and methodology of sociology
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Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Sociology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
