Date of Award
Summer 7-1-2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Media Studies
Advisor(s)
Liebler, Carol M.
Keywords
#StopAsianHate, online activism, psychological empowerment, self-efficacy, sense of community, Twitter microblogging
Subject Categories
Communication | Mass Communication | Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Psychology
Abstract
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in anti-Asian hate incidents across the US (Misra et al., 2020). As a response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and racism resulting from the pandemic, #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate have been employed to shed light on the issues. Twitter can effectively assist protestors to participate in the movement by facilitating collective effort, efficiently disseminating the information, and encouraging the discussion about a topic (Chon & Park, 2020). Social media has been recognized for its contribution to one's empowerment in various domains, allowing the marginalized group to regain their sense of power (Mehra et al., 2004; Perkins, 1995). Drawing on the association between Twitter microblogging and empowerment (Hermida & Hernández-Santaolalla, 2018), this study examines how the use of Twitter microblogging for anti-Asian hate crimes advocacy can affect users' psychological empowerment. More importantly, this study aims to raise awareness of the violence against Asian communities and to combat prejudice toward Asians in the COVID-19 pandemic. With the mediating role of self-efficacy and sense of community, we analyzed the use of Twitter microblogging to advocate against Asian hate and users' psychological empowerment level using Social Cognitive Theory. This study recruited 474 Asian Twitter users whose age between 18-29 years old and live in the United States by voluntary based convenience sampling to participate in the online survey administered by Qualtrics.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Wongmith, Natnaree, "The Psychological Empowerment Impact of Twitter Microblogging: The Case of #stopasianhate During Covid-19 Pandemic" (2022). Theses - ALL. 642.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/642
