Social Justice Activism

Charles Tilly developed the concept of a “repertoire of contention,” which describes the
full range of tactics available to activists at a given time and place. This repertoire
consists of all of the tactics which have been proven to be successful by activists in the
past, such as boycotts, petitions, marches, and sit-ins, and can be drawn upon by any
new activists and social movements. Activists may also innovate new tactics of protest.
These may be entirely novel, such as Douglas Schuler's idea of an "activist road trip", or
may occur in response to police oppression or countermovement resistance. New
tactics then spread to others through a social process known as diffusion, and if
successful, may become new additions to the activist repertoire.
Many contemporary activists now utilize new tactics through the Internet and other
information and communication technologies (ICTs), also known as Internet activism or
cyber-activism. Some scholars argue that many of these new tactics are digitally
analogous to the traditional offline tools of contention. Other digital tactics may be entire
new and unique, such as certain types of hacktivism. Together they form a new "digital
repertoire of contention" alongside the existing offline one. The rising use of digital tools
and platforms by activists has also increasingly led to the creation of decentralized
networks of activists that are self-organized and leaderless, or what is known
as franchise activism.
Common methods used for activism include:
Community building
o Artivism
o Communities of practice
o Conflict transformation
o Cooperative
o Cooperative movement
o Craftivism
o Grassroots
o Guerrilla gardening
o Transition movement
Lobbying
Media activism
o Culture jamming
o Hacktivism
o Internet activism
Peace activism
o Non-violent resistance
o Peace camps
o Peace vigil
o Moral purchasing
Petition
Political campaigning
Propaganda
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