A “Two-Level Social Capital Analysis” of the Role of Online Communication in Civic Activism: Lessons From the Role of Facebook in the Sunflower Movement

Abstract

In this article, we propose a “two-level social capital analysis” for the study of the role of online communication in new, contemporary forms of civic activism. We assess the applicability and value of the proposed analytical framework in a small-scale study of the role of Facebook in Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement. The case study showcases that the proposed two-level social capital analysis can offer depth and nuance in the analysis of the role of online and social media platforms such as Facebook in civic activism by unpacking the attributes of online social capital and untangling their links to offline activism undertaken within complex, both online and offline, forces and actors. At the same time, we acknowledge the need for further evaluation of the proposed analytical framework, and we note lessons that future research should take into account.