Using Email to Create Collective Identity

Abstract

The internet has changed the ability of social movements to carry out political organizing. It has also become a tool for expressing movement identities. Wall (2007) has argued that collective identity can be fostered through the frames created, the boundaries drawn and the emotional investment established by the movements. This paper examines how the social movement MoveOn has used email to express a collective identity. The use of frames, boundaries and emotional investment within these emails are the focus of this study.