Bringing The Outsiders In: Opponents' Claims and The Construction of Animal Rights Activists' Identity

2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Einwohner
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Symbolic Interactionism ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Movement Dynamics ◽  
Sense Of Identity ◽  
Using Data

Most research on the role of identity in social movements treats identity as something that is constructed solely by movement participants themselves. However, participants are not the only actors involved in this identity construction. This article uses basic insights from symbolic interactionism to argue that external claims, or claims made about movement participants by those outside the movement, also shape activists' sense of identity. Using data collected during three years of fieldwork with members of a non-violent animal rights organization, I show how the activists made use of their opponents' depictions of them—in particular, charges that the activists were "overly emotional" and "irrational"—when describing themselves. Specifically, I illustrate two processes by which these external claims left their mark on the activists' identity: identity disconfirmation and identity recasting. More broadly, I suggest that "bringing the outsiders in" to examinations of identity and collective action provides a more complete picture not simply of identity construction but of movement dynamics as a whole.

How Collective-Action Failure Shapes Group Heterogeneity and Engagement in Conventional and Radical Action Over Time

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762097056
Author(s):  
Morgana Lizzio-Wilson ◽  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Winnifred R. Louis ◽  
Brittany Wilcockson ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Group Efficacy ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Over Time

Extensive research has identified factors influencing collective-action participation. However, less is known about how collective-action outcomes (i.e., success and failure) shape engagement in social movements over time. Using data collected before and after the 2017 marriage-equality debate in Australia, we conducted a latent profile analysis that indicated that success unified supporters of change ( n = 420), whereas failure created subgroups among opponents ( n = 419), reflecting four divergent responses: disengagement (resigned acceptors), moderate disengagement and continued investment (moderates), and renewed commitment to the cause using similar strategies (stay-the-course opponents) or new strategies (innovators). Resigned acceptors were least inclined to act following failure, whereas innovators were generally more likely to engage in conventional action and justify using radical action relative to the other profiles. These divergent reactions were predicted by differing baseline levels of social identification, group efficacy, and anger. Collective-action outcomes dynamically shape participation in social movements; this is an important direction for future research.

18. Political Participation

2020 ◽  
pp. 318-335
Author(s):  
Herbert Kitschelt ◽  
Philipp Rehm
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Politically Active

This chapter examines four fundamental questions relating to political participation. First, it considers different modes of political participation such as social movements, interest groups, and political parties. Second, it analyses the determinants of political participation, focusing in particular on the paradox of collective action. Third, it explains political participation at the macro-level in order to identify which contextual conditions are conducive to participation and the role of economic affluence in political participation. Finally, the chapter discusses political participation at the micro-level. It shows that both formal associations and informal social networks, configured around family and friendship ties, supplement individual capacities to engage in political participation or compensate for weak capacities, so as to boost an individual’s probability to become politically active.

scholarly journals How Movements Move? Evaluating the Role of Ideology and Leadership in Environmental Movement Dynamics in India with Special Reference to the Narmada Bachao Andolan

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Padam Nepal
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Environmental Movements ◽  
Energy And Environment ◽  
Movement Dynamics ◽  
Structure Framework ◽  
Narmada Bachao Andolan ◽  
Agent Structure

Lawrence Cox (1999) has argued that the established perspectives on social movements operate with an inadequately narrow conception of the ‘object’ that is being studied and thus tends to ‘reify’ “movements” as usual activity against essentially static backgrounds, and in its place, he advocates a concept of social movement as the more or less developed articulation of situated rationalities. Following Cox, therefore, the present study perceives social movements as articulations of situated rationalities by perceiving them as a tactical, dialectical response to the harsh realities of the political system. This would help us capture the essential dynamic and transformative aspects of the movement. Any social movement, and for that matter, environmental movements are characterized by the presence of agencies and structural components, which, however, are not a priori and static. They are rather dynamic and get changed and transformed in the course of the movement. Precisely for this reason, the environmental movements can at best be comprehended by way of locating and analyzing the dynamism and transformations of the movements produced by the dialectical interaction of the various components and parameters of the movement over a span of time. Hence, the present paper aims to evaluate the dynamics and transformations of the environmental movements in India, taking the case of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, and, adopting a strategic relational approach within the agent-structure framework as its framework of analysis. For the present purpose, however, we have taken only two variables, namely, Ideology and Leadership and attempted the analysis of their contributions in producing movement dynamics.Hydro Nepal: Journal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue No. 4, January, 2009 Page 24-29

18. Political participation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Kitschelt ◽  
Philipp Rehm
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Politically Active

This chapter examines four fundamental questions relating to political participation. First, it considers different modes of political participation such as social movements, interest groups, and political parties. Second, it analyses the determinants of political participation, focusing in particular on the paradox of collective action. Third, it explains political participation at the macro-level in order to identify which contextual conditions are conducive to participation and the role of economic affluence in political participation. Finally, the chapter discusses political participation at the micro-level. It shows that both formal associations and informal social networks, configured around family and friendship ties, supplement individual capacities to engage in political participation or compensate for weak capacities, so as to boost an individual's probability to become politically active.

scholarly journals Black Lives Matter for Whites’ Racial Prejudice: Assessing the Role of Social Movements in Shaping Racial Attitudes in the United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumyajit Mazumder
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Prejudice ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Identification Strategy

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is one of the most prominent contemporary social movements in the United States. Whether the BLM movement has led to racial attitude liberalization remains an open question. I evaluate this question using data on over 140,000 survey respondents combined with locational data on BLM protests in 2014 following the police killing of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Results from a difference-in-differences identification strategy provide evidence indicating that the BLM movement was successful in reducing whites’ racial prejudice. I find that these effects follow an age gradient where young whites are liberalized by protests while older whites are not. Results from this study indicate that protests can be successful drivers of attitude change.

When a Social Movement Quarantines: The Power of Urban Memory in the 2019 Chilean Anti-neoliberal Uprising

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-292
Author(s):  
Manuela Badilla Rajevic
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Spatial Dimension ◽  
Hygienic Measures ◽  
Alternative Spaces ◽  
The City

This article reflects on the connections between space, social movements, and urban memory by analyzing the effects of quarantine on the massive Chilean anti-neoliberal movement. It explores two aspects of the quarantine that have unsettled and challenged the spatial dimension of collective action: restrictions on transit through the city and the imposition of hygienic measures on infrastructure and social interactions. The article suggests that these aspects represent a concrete threat to social movements, while at the same time push to strengthen alternative spaces and repertoires of action. It concludes by illustrating the role of urban memories on the potential continuity of the mobilizations and their demands.

Globalization and Social Movements

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Almeida ◽  
Chris Chase-Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Economic Globalization ◽  
Economic Liberalization ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Transnational Social Movements

A growing body of scholarship acknowledges the increasing influence of global forces on social institutions and societies on multiple scales. We focus here on the role of globalization processes in shaping collective action and social movements. Three areas of global change and movements are examined: first, long-term global trends and collective action; second, research on national and local challenges to economic globalization, including backlash movements and the types of economic liberalization measures most associated with inducing oppositional movements; and third, the emergence of contemporary transnational social movements. In each of these arenas we address debates on diffusion, intervening mechanisms, and the outcomes of collective mobilization in response to global pressures.

scholarly journals When nonactivists care: Group efficacy mediates the effect of social identification and perceived instability on the legitimacy of collective action

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Jiménez-Moya ◽  
Daniel Miranda ◽  
John Drury ◽  
Patricio Saavedra ◽  
Roberto González
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Care Group ◽  
Group Efficacy ◽  
The World ◽  
Levels Of Support ◽  
Shed Light

In recent years, multiple social movements have emerged around the world. In addition, public surveys indicate the highest recorded levels of support for protest. In this context of acceptance of collective action, we examine the role of nonactivists in the perceived legitimacy of social movements, as this “passive” support can contribute to social change. Given that antecedents of legitimacy have been neglected in the literature, we carried out a survey ( N = 605) among a general sample of the population in Chile to shed light on this issue. We found that social identification with movements and perceived instability predicted the perceived legitimacy of protests by social movements, and that both variables had only indirect effects through group efficacy. This suggests that perceiving social movements as able to achieve success can lead nonactivists to perceive their actions as legitimate, highlighting the importance to movements of being seen to be effective.

A Grassroots Approach to the Democratic Role of the Internet in Developing Countries

2013 ◽  
pp. 218-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ben Moussa
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The North

This chapter explores the role of the Internet in collective action in Morocco, and examines the extent to which the medium has empowered civil society and social movements in the North African country. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with activists belonging to key social movement organizations, the article analyzes how the appropriation of the Internet in activism is mediated through the socioeconomic and political structures proper to Morocco as a semi-authoritarian and developing country. In so doing, it sheds light on various intersections between technology diffusion, social movements’ organizational structures, and multiple forms of power relationships among social and political actors. The article argues that the Internet has certainly transformed collective action repertoire deployed by Moroccan social movements; nevertheless, it also demonstrates that the impact of the Internet is conditioned by multiple forms of digital divides that are significantly shaping its implications for social and political change in the country.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document