Interface: a journal for and about social movements Book reviews Volume 7 (1):364 – 397 (May 2015) 383 About the review author Jamie Matthews is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on the Occupy movement in London. His work makes use of post-structuralist and post-Marxist approaches to consider the problem of identity at the heart of contemporary movements. He is a member of the University of Manchester’s Social Movements Research Group (Movements@Manchester). He can be contacted at james.matthews AT manchester.ac.uk Stefania Milan (2013). Social Movements and Their Technologies: Wiring Social Change. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (233 pp., $90 hardcover) Reviewed by A.T. Kingsmith While somewhat neglectful of the politics embedded within the development of new communicative technologies, Social Movements and Their Technologies opens up new conversations regarding the socio-cultural embeddness of contemporary social movements by providing a useful overview of the relationship between social movements and ‘liberating technologies’ that demystifies the communications infrastructures that have made possible some of the major protest events of the past 15 years. To do so, author Stefania Milan centres her analyses around what she terms ‘emancipatory communication practices’ (ECPs), repertoires of collective action and social organisation that seek to create alternatives by challenging existing media and communications infrastructures. Drawing from the work of Hackett and Carroll (2004), Milan distinguishes between two approaches to emancipatory communication practices: reformist (or offensive) and counterhegemonic (or defensive). Reformist tactics challenge existing hegemonic structures and powers in the communication field by influencing the contents of mainstream media and advocating media policy reform. Counterhegemonic tactics seek to create independent media outside state and corporate control, and to change the relationship between citizens and media by empowering audiences to be aware of the overwhelming influence of mainstream media. Building on this methodological divide, Milan frames her exploration of ECPs around two distinct communication mediums: low-power community radio (reformist) and high-power Internet activism (counterhegemonic). For Milan, the two approaches share a focus on praxis as their main strategy of promoting change, a culture of emancipation, and empowerment insofar as they provide alternatives to commercial and state-owned communication infrastructure, and core features such as non-profit status, an orientation towards social change and