European Journal of Communication | 2019
Andreas Bernard Theory of the Has#tag (trans. Valentine A Pakis)
Abstract
present ‘a conceptual framework that encompasses the various “moments” in which media and communication are implicated in protest and social change’ (p. 6). His framework is based on the Circuit of Culture concept and its five moments: production, representation, identity, reception/consumption, and regulation. Cammaerts structures his book around these five moments. Chapter 2, ‘Situating the Circulation of Protest’, introduces the conceptual framework. Chapter 3, ‘’The Production of Anti-Austerity Discourses and Frames’, focuses on the moment of production. Cammaerts argues that the anti-austerity movement is characterised by two main discourses: ‘(1) a renewed politics of redistribution; and (2) a real democracy’ (p. 39). Chapter 4, ‘The Self-Mediation Practices of Anti-Austerity Movement’, then explores the self-mediation practices of the activists. Chapter 5 presents the media representation of the anti-austerity movement while chapter 6 analyses the reception of the discourses and frames by non-activists. The final chapter brings the whole book together by centring on the so-called ‘mediation opportunity structure’ concept, ‘which is characterized by the dynamic interplay between the agentic opportunities and the structural constraints aiming to thwart these opportunities’ (p. 163). Cammaerts’ book makes an excellent conceptual contribution to the study of the role of the media in the anti-austerity protest movement and more generally in protest movements.