1. Social Media Freaks Author: Dustin Kidd Chapter 6: Occupy Wall Street
Class Perspectives on Social Media
Instructors: be sure to use this notes section throughout to see my ideas on how to use these slides. You can also add in your own additional notes to use in class. If you print them to have in front of you during class, be sure to select “Layout: Notes” rather than slides, handouts, or outline.
Feel free to send your ideas and feedback to me!
-Dustin
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Overview
In this lesson, we will…
Examine how Occupy Wall Street used social media to challenge economic inequality,
Utilize social theory to explain the strategies of Occupy,
Assess the successes and failures of OWS, and
Review the role of privacy and anonymity in virtual ethnography.
But first, an invitation…
This is broad overview of the slides that follow. Before proceeding, tell your students how they should consume the lecture/discussion. Talk about taking notes and what they should take notes about. Definitions are available in the glossary but it may be worth encouraging them to write them down as a learning tool.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

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Invitation
Click on the image to visit a Pinterest board the examines Occupy Wall Street: Click through the board to get a visual reminder of Occupy Wall Street.
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Invitation
Why use an image like this to promote a protest and spark a social change? What does this image symbolize? What is effective about this image? What is ineffective? How else could you rally people to participate in the protest?
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Theory
Rhizomes
Deleuze and Guattari introduced the idea of rhizomes as a metaphor for the spread of ideas.
The image links to a video introducing Delueze and Guattari’s work. The video is three minutes and 16 seconds long (3:16), but has no closed captions.
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Theory
Rhizomes OWS follows a rhizome nature in being leaderless, horizontal, decentralized, growing in and from multiple directions, and breaking off into splinters.
Discuss:
What is the value of being organized in a rhizomatic fashion?
What difficulties does it create?
What other groups are organized like this?
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Theory
Theories of Change
Micah White, one of the founders of OWS, argues that Occupy started with an incorrect social theory of revolution
The prevailing theory of revolutions assumes that democratic governments are accountable to the people and will be forced to respond when the people raise their voices loudly enough
Voluntaristic theories assume that powerful ideas and strong leaders can change society
Structuralist theories assume society changes when certain conditions are met
White’s alternative approach will be discussed at the end
Ask students to create example versions of voluntaristic and structuralist theories of social change that demonstrate the difference.
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Concepts
Occupation
The physical “showing up” for the protest and putting one’s body on the line
In the US, occupation is based on the 1st amendment right to peaceful assembly
Precursors included sit-ins
Occupy wanted to occupation to be publicly available and annoying for those in power
Occupation forced Wall Street workers to redirect their path to the office, and took away their outdoor lunch space
Ask students whether and how often they think about the right to peaceful assembly. Why would that be included in the first amendment? Why don’t we talk about that as much as we discuss freedom of speech?
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Concepts
People’s Assemblies
A method of developing a message through listening, consensus building, and breakouts
Hand gestures
Agreement: Hands up, fingers up and waving.
Disagreement: Hands down, fingers down and waving.
Unsure: Hands flat, fingers horizontal and waving.
Clarification: Hand curled in the shape of the letter C.
Point of Process (conversation has strayed): Hands forming a triangle between the index fingers and thumbs.
Block (hard disagreement): Arms crossed to form an X.
Consider having students use these gestures in a class forum about Occupy Wall Street and the subject of class inequality.
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Concepts
Leaderlessness
Occupy’s primary founders were Kalle Lasn and Micah White, from Adbusters magazine
But these two did not direct Occupy on the ground in New York or anywhere else
Occupy has no Articles of Incorporation, no mission statement, no board of directors, no office, no mailing address, no spokesperson
Discuss:
Why embrace the leaderless approach? What are the promises and pitfalls of such an approach? Can the pitfalls be overcome without reverting to a top-down organization?
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Concepts
Hashtags
Provide an index system that connects similar ideas
Individual users can connect their idea or activity to a movement by adding the tag
Clicking a hastag on Twitter makes these connections visible
#OWS #Occupy #OccupyWallStreet were the most common
A review of the basic concepts behind hashtags. Discuss with students what a hashtag means in day-to-day life, the vernacular of saying the word “hashtag” in conversation, and noteable experiences they have had with hashtags.
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Concepts
Memes
Occupy functioned as a meme in at least three ways:
Adding #Occupy to posts about a wide range of ideas. For instance, a post about the 2017 inauguration reads: “Starting Jan14th: Come to D.C. Flood the streets. Do NOT leave... Do NOT let them take power. #floodDC #nofascistUSA  #theresistance #occupy”
Adding place and ideas to #Occupy #OccupyPhilly #OccupyArt #OccupyDisney
Using Occupy and #Occupy outside of social media as a cultural reference point
Meme refers to a cultural object with wide circulation, but particularly one that can be manipulated as it circulates.
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13. Concepts Privacy and Anonymity in Virtual Ethnography
Posts on Twitter are publicly available, unless the users tweets are protects
Posts on Facebook, even when they are ”public”, are restricted to members of Facebook.
Many users, especially young users, have an expectation of privacy (danah boyd)
SM research focusing on public posts is usually not subjected to review by an Institutional Review Board, but most researchers should check
Students may need an introduction to the IRB and research ethics.
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Analysis
One Demand!
Early announcements by OWS promised “one demand” that would be identified later
The most consistent message was the focus on the 99% vs the wealthiest 1%
In 2013, the 1% in the US were those with household incomes of $389,436 and higher
But this does not account for regional variations in household income and cost of living
People’s assemblies in New York debated what the one demand should be, and many items were discussed, but no single demand was chosen
To discuss the concept of 1% more, this Forbes article is useful and is the source of the number on this slide:
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Analysis
One Demand?
On Day 5 of OWS, the following demands were released, each identified as the ”one demand”:
Ending capital punishment
Ending wealth inequality
Ending police intimidation
Ending corporate censorship
Ending the modern gilded age
Ending political corruption
Ending joblessness
Ending poverty
Ending heath profiteering
Ending American imperialism
Ending war
Why shift “one demand” from being a direct strategy to a rhetorical device?
These demands can be viewed online at
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Analysis
A Constructive Failure “Occupy Wall Street was a constructive failure but not a total failure. Occupy demonstrated the efficacy of using social memes to quickly spread a movement, shifted the political debate on the fair distribution of wealth, trained a new generation of activists who went on to be the base for movements ranging from campus fossil fuel divestment to Black Lives Matter protests….However, an honest assessment reveals that Occupy Wall Street failed to live up to its revolutionary potential.” (White 2016, 26)
Discuss: Is White’s assessment of the movement he founded fair and accurate? As a founder of a leaderless, memetic movement, does he have the right to speak on the success of Occupy? How do you think Occupy participants would feel about this assessment? If the assessment is correct, what should change leaders focus on in the future?
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Discussion
Watch:
Watch the video, making sure to turn on the closed captions. The video is ten minutes and 15 seconds long (10:15) and presents an interview with Micah White about his idea that Occupy was a constructive failure. Discuss how his argument with students.
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Discussion
Watch:
Watch the video, making sure to turn on the closed captions. The video is four minutes and 42 seconds long (4:42). Ask students to focus on the ways that social media is discussed as an organizing tool. After the video, discuss:
-Is social media an effective tool for organizing protest?
-What are the drawbacks of organizing with social media?
-Is it possible to have a protest now that doesn’t utilize social media in some way?
-Who is served more by social media, the protestors or the group in power?
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Wrap-Up
Key terms, concepts, and names from this unit:
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy
One Demand
The 99%
Anonymous
People’s Assembly
Kalle Lasn
Adbusters
Research Ethics
Institutional Review Board
VOIP
Occupation
People’s Assemblies
Leaderlessness
Hashtags
Memes
Rhizomes
Gilles Deleuze
Felix Guattari
Micah White
Constructive Failure
Use this slide to review the concepts and quiz students on what they learned and what they recall.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

20. Resources To explore these topics further:
Visit the New York Times interactive graphic “How Class Works” to explore the components of social class:
Visit the website ”Inequality Is” to explore your position in the inequality system:
Watch the documentary Inequality for All.
This slide can be removed if you actually plan to incorporate some or all of these into the syllabus.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.