(Ebook) Movement Meaning of Money: Monetary Mobilization in Hong Kong’s Prodemocracy Movement by 何明修, Ming-sho Ho

(Ebook) Movement Meaning of Money: Monetary Mobilization in Hong Kong’s Prodemocracy Movement by 何明修, Ming-sho Ho

The resource mobilization (RM) theory has long discovered the significance ofmoney for protests; yet can this insight be applied to nowadays decentralizedmovements, characterized by the absence of organizational leadership and morecreative and spontaneous participation from below? While the RM perspective isanchored on a political economy of organizational fundraising, it is time to bring inViviana Zelizer’s economic sociology to understand how participants utilize the roleof donors, consumers, savers, and investors for the movement purpose. Focusing onHong Kong’s prodemocracy movement, this article theorizes the full panoply of“monetary mobilization” to revise RM’s narrow conception. By offering a safer andanonymous channel of expression, monetary mobilization emerges as a substitute toin-person participation for risk-averse citizens with financial means. Money is alwaysloaded with symbolic meanings and ethical considerations so that it also functions asa vehicle of the moral outrage and utopian aspirations. Participants are keen toestablish a proper relationship between sponsors and beneficiaries by exercisingdiligent oversight to prevent its corruption. Contrary to the instrumentalist conception,money is per se not a fully fungible and all-purpose resource.