Immaterial intimacy: The neoliberal entanglement of digital technologies in social movement volunteer work

Abstract

Outside of visible moments of mass mobilization, ongoing latent work, such as direct service and mutual aid, is a long-standing tradition in social movements. Yet, like all labor, personal digital devices have changed the norms and practices of direct service social movement work. In this article, as situated in the technology–media–movement complex (TMMC), I analyze qualitative interview data (N = 26) with volunteers from a yearlong ethnographic project at an abortion fund hotline in the reproductive justice movement in the US South. To name hotline volunteers’ digital care labor, I offer the term immaterial intimacy to describe its ubiquitous, ephemeral, and intimate nature. I argue immaterial intimate labor enabled the organization to provide a responsive service, but relied on individualized digital volunteer work, existing within gendered and neoliberal norms. I discuss and question the use of personal digital technologies for direct service volunteer work in contemporary social movements.