Public defence in Industrial Engineering and Management, M.Sc. (Tech) Sarri Nykänen

Title of the thesis: Drivers of collective action in contemporary democracy

Doctoral student: Sarri Nykänen
Opponent: Professor Jennifer Earl, University of Delaware, USA
Custos: Professor Robin Gustafsson, Aalto University School of Science, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management

Collective action is a joint, goal-directed activity in pursuit of common interests. Often, the objective of collective action is institutional change. Institutions are taken-for-granted social structures, such as norms, legislation, practices, organizational forms, status hierarchies, and social contracts. Contemporary societies give rise to new forms and dynamics of collective action, such as a growing application of direct democracy tools, new dynamics from the Internet and social media, and changing power balances from globalization and digitalization.

The objective of this doctoral thesis is to improve our understanding of the drivers of collective action and its outcomes for institutional change in the contemporary era. The doctoral thesis addresses the objective in three studies, which focus on the following research questions: 1) How do organizers' resources and focusing events interact in triggering online social mobilization? 2) When and how does issue-boundary-spanning influence social mobilization? 3) Why do social contracts between business and society enter a crisis, and how do stakeholders renegotiate social contracts?

The research questions are addressed in two empirical contexts: Finnish citizens' initiatives, which are agenda-setting legislative direct democracy petitions, and the Swedish banking industry. Results indicate that despite the lower cost of digital activism, coalition resources, such as funding and organizational capabilities, still matter substantially in mobilizing supporters. However, timing actions with focusing events provides activists an alternative pathway to success. Moreover, combining distant issues inhibits social mobilization. Finally, stakeholders renegotiating social contracts use strategies that combine idealistic notions of deliberative democracy, i.e., the process of public deliberation, with power-oriented strategy, i.e., attempts to increase bargaining power, coerce other parties, as well as collaborative strategies.

Key words: collective action; social movements; social contracts; direct democracy; institutional change

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/ 

Contact information:

Doctoral theses of the School of Science: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/52 

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