The DOI matches its Crossref record; 48 of the 48 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Explaining spontaneous occupation: antecedents, contingencies and spaces in the Umbrella Movement
Abstract
This paper examines the antecedent and contingent causes sparking the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. Spurred by two contingent events generating pre-emptive and backlash mobilization, the movement is a spontaneous transformation of the staged Occupy Central campaign. Based on an onsite survey (n = 1681) and in-depth interviews (n = 18), this paper demonstrates how protest experience and social media networked and rallied autonomous individuals from diverse backgrounds to occupy the physical spaces, thereby sustaining a self-mobilized, horizontal and resilient movement. Spontaneity, however, did not come out of nowhere. As an integral part of Hong Kong’s bottom-up activism and ecology, this spontaneous episode encapsulates antecedent events diffusing stalwart actors, decentralized organization and transgressive repertories. This paper situates spontaneity in temporal, spatial and emotional contexts to understand the uncompromising claims and participatory practices of the spectacular occupation.
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“Relatedly, research on the repression-backlash nexus suggests that mobilization after state repression of collective action is often a spontaneous, reflexive response.”
From Coordinated Dis-Coordination (2024) · cites this paper as Cheng and Chan 2017
Citations
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Yuen, S. (2020) · Amsterdam University Press eBooks · doi:10.5117/9789463723343_ch07
Sociocultural impacts on the innovativeness of tourism entrepreneurs in Hong Kong
Wong, H.-K. (2020) · Sheffield Hallam University · doi:10.7190/shu-thesis-00364
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Hong Kong Umbrella Movement (2014)
Lee, C. K. (2022) · The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements · doi:10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm652
Spontaneity, Protest, and Social Movements
Moss, D. M., & Snow, D. A. (2022) · The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements · doi:10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm707
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Strategic and prefigurative deliberation in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement
Kunz, L. N. (2025) · Social movement studies · doi:10.1080/14742837.2025.2461502
“The subsequent occupations were the contingent result of a decentralized popular response, facilitated by digital communication technology, of citizens outraged by the police’s violent crowd control efforts (Cheng & Chan, 2017).”
Gunzelmann, H. J. (2025) · Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen · doi:10.1515/fjsb-2025-2017
Effect of Social Media on National Security During the 2020 ENDSARS Protests in Lagos State
Omede, A. J., & Oladimeji, O. B. (2025) · De-centre Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies · doi:10.36615/zcmncs11
“These contradictory findings reflect what Tumber and Waisbord (2017) and Cheng and Chan (2017) call the “public screen” effect, where social media platforms provide evidentiary tools for resistance but also provoke instability.”
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.001.0001
Mobilizing with Hong Kong’s Anti–Extradition Movement
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.003.0004
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Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.003.0006
“One Foot in the Institutions, a Thousand in the Streets”?
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.003.0007
Building and Exercising People Power in Cities
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.003.0001
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.003.0008
Organizing Communities of Color for Climate Justice with the Sydney Alliance
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.003.0005
Playing by the Rules in Austin
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A Framework for Urban People Power
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.003.0002
Chan, K.-M. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.002.0006
Tattersall, A., & Iveson, K. (2026) · doi:10.1093/9780197774311.002.0004
Making the case for public geographies of student debt abolition
Baker, R., Harris, D. M., Hopkins, B., Karaagac, E. A., Proulx, G., Goerisch, D., Murton, G., & McKendrick, J. H. (2026) · Dialogues in Human Geography · doi:10.1177/20438206261449230
Metadata
- Authors
- Cheng, E. W., & Chan, W.-Y.
- Affiliations
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Department of Government and Public Administration, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Corresponding author
- Cheng, Edmund W.
- ORCID
- Cheng, Edmund W.
- Venue
- Social Movement Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2016-11-10
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 222-239
- ISSN
- 1474-2829 (ISSN-L)
- 1474-2837
- OpenAlex
- W2549810001
- Cited by
- 124
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 28.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social movement studies (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee (UGC/FDS16/H04/14)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Latin American socio-political dynamics
- Keywords
- Umbrella Movement, Occupy Central, protest mobilization, social media, horizontal organization, decentralized organizations, Hong Kong protests
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