Media Use and Protest Mobilization: A Case Study of Umbrella Movement Within Hong Kong Schools

Abstract

This study aims to examine the roles of social media in protest mobilization through the case of Umbrella Movement. Instead of focusing in the occupied sites, the study chose to look at mobilization efforts and confrontations within Hong Kong secondary schools. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 students, teachers and principals from four schools, with an aim to identify how members in schools used different media for information sharing, opinion expression and mobilization. It also reconstructed what actually occurred in the tactful negotiations between school authorities and student leaders during the movement. The findings of this study suggest that how different communication practices are mediated in particular social and cultural contexts remain to be relevant and important, as the stress on “harmony” in local education settings illustrate in this case study. The strong adherence to political neutrality and professionalism suggest that schools could hardly provide the kind of idealistic civic education stated in curriculum documents. The findings prompted for a critical reading of how apolitical civic education in Hong Kong schools constrained a social movement that was supposedly led by the youth.