Browsing by Subject "activism"

The pressure toward companies to tackle the challenges of our societies has grown higher. Consumers are expecting companies not only to consider their impact on the society in form of corporate social responsibility (CSR), but to explicitly express their stances on socio-political issues. Also, while the concept of CSR is currently being reshaped, the ways in which CSR is communicated are changing. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of how CSR is communicated in the context of social media from the perspective of new CSR. The theoretical framework of this thesis builds on literature about CSR, social movements, and CSR communication on social media. The literature review constructs a framework of new CSR, which in this study means extended responsibilities that derive from the concepts of political CSR, corporate advocacy and activism. Some of the main source materials are provided by Aronczyk (2013), Baur and Wettstein (2016), London (2010) and Schrerer and Palazzo (2011). The study approach is qualitative, and the data consists of the Finnish textile company Finlayson’s Facebook posts from 2016 to 2017. The analysis is data-driven but guided by the theoretical framework. The analysis methods used are qualitative theme analysis and frame analysis. The findings of this study indicate that Finlayson’s CSR communication is a hybrid mix of traditional and new CSR. The study finds that the main CSR-related themes Finlayson communicates are environmental protection and political grievances. The first is an indication of a traditional CSR theme, and the study implies that these kinds of traditional CSR topics have now found their way into new platforms such as social media. However, political grievances imply an orientation toward newer CSR. The company addresses controversial socio-political issues and takes stances, for instance, on LGBT rights, racism and equal pay. When it comes to the ways in which Finlayson communicates CSR, this study identifies three responsibility communication frames: the credibility frame, the captaincy frame, and the cooperation frame. The credibility frame emphasizes past CSR initiatives and communication is informative and one-way by nature. The captaincy frame emphasizes the company’s future aspirations, and responsibility is personified to the CEO of the company, thus indicating forms of CEO activism. The cooperation frame emphasizes collaboration and establishing a mutual understanding between the company and its stakeholders. Furthermore, the cooperation frame mobilizes the company’s stakeholders to take action. Thus, the results imply that new CSR should be understood as an integral part of CSR studies and that the relationship between activism and CSR has become increasingly fluid.

This master’s thesis combines two realms that have received only minor attention: Anti-trafficking theatre activism and the research of theatre audience experiences. The study is a data-driven qualitative content analysis of theatre audience’s reception experiences considering the activist theatre performance, Item No 316, on the topic of human trafficking. The performance was staged seventeen times in the spring of 2013, in eight cities in Finland. The aim of this study is to clarify the function of activist theatre in relation to its audiences. This is done through the case of Item No 316. The data was gathered firstly through semi-structured group interviews with voluntary audience members right after the performances, and secondly by an e-mail questionnaire five months later. Altogether 30 spectators were interviewed in Turku, Tampere, Jyväskylä and Joensuu, and 24 of them later responded to the questionnaire. The data was analysed using qualitative content analysis and supporting quantitative content specification. The central theoretical background corresponding to the findings consists of media scholar Roger Silverstone’s theory of ‘proper distance’, theatre scholar Lib Taylor’s concept of ‘emotional enlistment’ and theatre scholar Peter Eversmann’s analysis of the theatrical experience. The main results have to do with conceptions of the theatre medium, its most efficient means, the shared and individual aspects of its audience experiences, the change of thinking and action provoked by it and – most importantly – the influentiality of theatrical emotions and the experienced increase in proximity of the performance and its topic. Theatre was conceived as a medium that enhances the experience of proximity with the distant suffering Others more than other media, and its capability to affect emotionally through theatricality and living body media was seen as a highly efficient provoker of change. The findings of this study defend the activist theatre medium’s capability to engage its audiences on various levels: Firstly, into focusing on the delivered mediation of factual information and stories; secondly, into relating, identifying and empathising with the victims of social injustice as distant Others; and thirdly, into an ongoing mental process about the relevance and influence of the mediated social injustice for themselves and their everyday lives. Therefore, according to this study’s audience experiences, the potential that theatre has to offer to activist causes might be considerable.

This thesis studies the discourses of power and anti-violence activism related to feminicides in Mexico. Feminicides are defined as killings of women because of their gender. Although feminicides have existed throughout the history of Mexico, the issue became a focus of attention among the masses nearly 30 years ago because of the wave of violence in Ciudad Juárez. Today, according to the official data of the State, three women are victims of feminicides in Mexico daily. However, the number is most likely substantially higher given the underreporting of feminicides and that some states still do not distinguish them as separate crimes from homicides. It is estimated that approximately ten women are killed as victims of feminicides in Mexico every day. The theoretical framework for this study is rooted in the Foucauldian scholarship of power. More precisely, Michel Foucault’s theory of power as relational or productive and the idea of power being everywhere but nowhere, in particular, imposes the principal understanding of how violence is implicated in multiple structures of power relations. The study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews, with data being gathered by interviewing six feminist activists who are working against feminicides in Mexico. After this, the interviews were analysed with methods of discourse analysis. The study finds the total of five main discourses with their sub-discourses: 1. Structures (Patriarchal culture and Deficient understanding), 2. The State (Politics and Impunity), 3. Truth (Bending truth and Clash of genders) 4. Pervasive violence, and 5. Women’s networks. The results of the analysis suggest that the power related to violence against women comes indeed from everywhere: power comes from structures of the society, from education, from the State and the law (and impunity), from the truth (or what we accept as truth), from non-State agents such as criminal organisations and women themselves. They are all connected so that even criminal organisations and politicians are interweaved in the same network of power, and in the case of Mexico, not even very far from each other. Women themselves exercise power through relations, networks and cooperation and this is the dimension of power that women consider their most important asset. To keep themselves secure in a potentially hostile environment, activist women maintain a set of safety rules and regulations that they follow in their everyday lives. In conclusion, power influencing violence against women is located deep in the patriarchal structures and practices in Mexico. This is why it is challenging to tackle the problem of continuing gendered violence in Mexico: it does not have any centre. This means that also globalised networks of organised crime, as well as the overall patriarchal culture, influence on discourses that power and gender-based violence are given. Also, it is noteworthy that power should not be considered only oppressive or dominating as that interpretation would give women only the role of passive victims. Women also possess power that they exercise through social relations and collective activist networks. In sum, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of feminicides and violence against women in Mexico. Furthermore, through the unique interview data, the results collect valuable information on all the main challenges that are hampering the activists’ work against violence.