Protest as communication for development and social change

Abstract

Protest is an instrument used to agitate for social change globally, however, in spite of the increasing use of protest to address socioeconomic and political grievances, there has been limited critical scholarly study of protest in the communication for development and social change (CDSC) scholarship. Protest is communication. It is a communication strategy for drawing attention to developmental and social issues that affect the well-being of citizens. Communication for development and social change utilizes various communication approaches, such as social marketing, public awareness and information campaign, entertainment-education, media advocacy, social mobilization, and many others. In addition to these approaches, protest action is situated as a communication approach for development and social change. In this chapter, protest culture is engaged critically by drawing theoretically from conceptual discourses of participation, participatory development communication, grassroots bottom-up social change, social movement theory, collective action theory, and critical analysis of power. This chapter also provides a framework for the use of protest as communication for development and social change by identifying types and methods of protest, and ends by offering critical guidelines of how protest can be effectively used as communication strategy for development and social change.