scholarly journals See you on Wall St. Sept 17. Bring Tent: Occupy Wall Street, Framing, and Mobilisation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Samuel Bigwood
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Popular Discourse ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Insight Into

<p>The phenomenon of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has been widely discussed in the academic and popular discourse. Of its many contributions, the language of the Occupy Movement has had a profound influence on contemporary discussions about inequality – contrasting the ‘99%’ with the ‘1%’ is now a permanent part of the conversation. However, despite this discursive shift, the literature has yet to seriously consider how the ideational elements of OWS influenced its mobilisation. While changing the dominant discourse is an important achievement, mobilising collective action around a cause remains an essential task for social movements.  To explain social movement mobilisation, this thesis utilises the framing perspective, which seeks to understand why and how certain ideas are able to inspire or inhibit collective action. By using qualitative analysis of movement texts over time, this thesis has constructed the key frames articulated in selected OWS documents over the course of its serious efforts to mobilise. More specifically, it has examined whether changes in the movement’s use of diagnostic, prognostic, motivational, and identity frames can explain the trajectory of mobilisation. The central argument is that the framing perspective can offer a plausible explanation for the mobilisation of OWS; a correlation between changes in framing and expected changes in mobilisation can be observed. However, while the findings of this thesis fill one important part of the puzzle, in order to corroborate the arguments put forward here future research must consider the way the frames proffered by OWS were actually received and acted (or not acted) upon by potential participants. By doing so, we can not only gain a more perceptive insight into this topical phenomenon, but also improve our understanding of the nature and dynamics of contemporary social movements.</p>

scholarly journals See you on Wall St. Sept 17. Bring Tent: Occupy Wall Street, Framing, and Mobilisation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Samuel Bigwood
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Popular Discourse ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Insight Into

<p>The phenomenon of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has been widely discussed in the academic and popular discourse. Of its many contributions, the language of the Occupy Movement has had a profound influence on contemporary discussions about inequality – contrasting the ‘99%’ with the ‘1%’ is now a permanent part of the conversation. However, despite this discursive shift, the literature has yet to seriously consider how the ideational elements of OWS influenced its mobilisation. While changing the dominant discourse is an important achievement, mobilising collective action around a cause remains an essential task for social movements.  To explain social movement mobilisation, this thesis utilises the framing perspective, which seeks to understand why and how certain ideas are able to inspire or inhibit collective action. By using qualitative analysis of movement texts over time, this thesis has constructed the key frames articulated in selected OWS documents over the course of its serious efforts to mobilise. More specifically, it has examined whether changes in the movement’s use of diagnostic, prognostic, motivational, and identity frames can explain the trajectory of mobilisation. The central argument is that the framing perspective can offer a plausible explanation for the mobilisation of OWS; a correlation between changes in framing and expected changes in mobilisation can be observed. However, while the findings of this thesis fill one important part of the puzzle, in order to corroborate the arguments put forward here future research must consider the way the frames proffered by OWS were actually received and acted (or not acted) upon by potential participants. By doing so, we can not only gain a more perceptive insight into this topical phenomenon, but also improve our understanding of the nature and dynamics of contemporary social movements.</p>

Examining Anger’s Immobilizing Effect on Institutional Insiders’ Action Intentions in Social Movements

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. DeCelles ◽  
Scott Sonenshein ◽  
Brayden G. King
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Initial Field ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Business Sustainability

We theorize that anger incited by a social movement, which has a mobilizing effect among outsider activists, might immobilize collective action intentions for institutional insiders—those sympathetic to the movement and employed by its target. We conducted initial field surveys across a spectrum of social movements, including Occupy Wall Street and #metoo, as well as those related to business sustainability and gun control, which showed that institutional insiders are often just as angry as outsider activists. But the evidence from those surveys did not show that social movement anger translated into collective action intentions among institutional insiders. We tested our theory deductively with an experiment conducted with participants who were supportive of social movement issues in their organizations. Overall, our results show that anger about a social movement issue relates to greater collective action intentions among outsider activists but not among institutional insiders. Instead of anger emboldening institutional insiders to act despite the potential costs, anger triggers fear about the potential negative consequences of collective action in the workplace, which in turn results in withdrawal. While social movements often rely on anger frames to mobilize sympathizers, our work suggests that this practice may paradoxically cause fear that immobilizes those uniquely positioned to be able to influence organizations to change.

We are “the Resistance”: Predictors and consequences of self-categorization into the emerging movement to oppose Trump

2020 ◽  
pp. 136843022097475
Author(s):  
Samuel Hansen Freel ◽  
Rezarta Bilali ◽  
Erin Brooke Godfrey
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Efficacy Beliefs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Identity Consolidation

In a three-wave longitudinal study conducted in the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, this paper examines how people come to self-categorize into the emerging social movement “the Resistance,” and how self-categorization into this movement influences future participation in collective action and perceptions of the movement’s efficacy. Conventional collective action (e.g., protest, lobby legislators)—but not persuasive collective action (e.g., posting on social media)—and perceived identity consolidation efficacy of the movement at Wave 1 predicted a higher likelihood of self-categorization into the movement 1 month later (Wave 2) and 2 months later (Wave 3). Self-categorization into the Resistance predicted two types of higher subsequent movement efficacy perceptions, and helped sustain the effects of conventional collective action and movement efficacy beliefs at Wave 1 on efficacy beliefs at Wave 3. Implications for theory and future research on emerging social movements are discussed.

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.

The aestheticization of restraint: The popular appeal of de-cluttering after the global financial crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susie Khamis
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Video Tutorials ◽  
Popular Appeal ◽  
Liberal Economy ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

The concept of consumer restraint has had a popular makeover. This is seen in the worldwide popularity of books, video tutorials and online discussion groups devoted to de-cluttering, and specifically the stunning success of professional organizer Marie Kondo and her best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. De-cluttering sits on a broad continuum of alternative consumption that champions the benefits of consumer restraint, on multiple fronts: economic, environmental, psychological, and so on. Through Kondo, this is framed in positive, uplifting ways. This is distinct from the more critical, nuanced, or anti-consumerist rhetoric associated with more subversive advocates of alternative consumption, such as voluntary simplifiers or Occupy Wall Street. That said, just as the Occupy movement channeled growing frustration with how the reigning tenets of capitalist culture had shackled and misled the “99%,” de-cluttering finds cultural traction in the midst and wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Unlike Occupy though, Kondo’s appeal rests less on the logic and language of political economy than the more emotive vernacular of pop psychology. In this way, de-cluttering positions restraint as reflective of a highly developed and sophisticated sensibility, whereby individuals “own” their consumption choices and in turn craft carefully curated spaces. Therein lies the aestheticization of restraint: freed of any negative connotations (dour, miserly or miserable), the de-cluttered subject is autonomous, self-aware, and chic. Crucially, it also pivots on the slippery assumptions of the (new) neo liberal economy, which requires individuals to be agile, creative, and empowered.

scholarly journals THE RISE OF INEQUALITY: HOW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS SHAPE DISCURSIVE FIELDS*

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Gaby ◽  
Neal Caren
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Movement Organizations

Social movement scholars have considered several political and cultural consequences of social movements, but have paid limited attention to whether and how social movements shape discourse. We develop a theory of discursive eruption, referring to the ability of radical movements to initially ignite media coverage but not control the content once other actors— particularly those that can take advantage of journalistic norms—enter the discourse. We hold that one long-term outcome of radical social movements is the ability to alter discursive fields through mechanisms such as increasing the salience and content of movement-based issues. We examine the way movements shape discourse by focusing on newspaper articles about inequality before, during, and after the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. We analyze changes in the salience and content of coverage as well as shifts in actor standing and influence. Using 7,024 articles from eight newspapers, we find that the OWS movement increased media attention to inequality, shifting the focus of the discourse toward movement-based issue areas (e.g., the middle class and minimum wage). Further, we find that compared to the pre-OWS period, the influence of social movement organizations and think tanks rose in discourse on inequality. In addition, the discourse on inequality became more highly politicized as a result of the Occupy movement. These findings highlight the importance of social movements in shaping discourse and indicate that social movement scholars should further consider discursive changes as a consequence of social movements.

scholarly journals Social Movement Literature and U.S. Labour: A Reassessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-179
Author(s):  
Keith Mann
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Common Features ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Arab Spring

Largely due to its conservative profile at the time, the U.S. labour movement was largely absent from modern social movement literature as it developed in response to the new social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Recent labour mobilizations such as the Wisconsin uprising and the Chicago Teachers’ strike have been part of the current international cycle of protest that includes the Arab Spring, the antiausterity movements in Greece and Spain, and Occupy Wall Street. These struggles suggest that a new labour movement is emerging that shares many common features with new social movements. This article offers a general analysis of these and other contemporary labour struggles in light of contemporary modern social movement literature. It also critically reviews assumptions about the labour movement of the 1960s and 1970s and reexamines several social movement concepts.

scholarly journals Modern Anarchism in Social Movements

2017 ◽  
pp. 71-88
Author(s):  
Clifford Baverel
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Mouvements Sociaux ◽  
Xixe Siecle ◽  
Grand Public ◽  
Comme Base ◽  
Xixe Siècle

Le mouvement Occupy Wall Street, depuis ses débuts en 2011, a été relié à la théorie et à la pratique anarchiste par différents universitaires tels que David Graeber, Nathan Schneider et Mark Bray. Cependant, Occupy n’est pas un cas isolé dans l’histoire des mouvements sociaux. Le mouvement s’est développé à un moment où les manifestations des courants anti-néolibéral et pro-démocratie — à la fois locales et mondiales —, qui étaient apparues à la fin du XXe siècle, ont atteint un point culminant. En quelques années, des manifestations, des révoltes et des protestations sociales se sont répandues à travers le monde, au Nord comme au Sud. Cela va des printemps arabes en 2011 au mouvement de Gezi Park en 2013, en passant par les protestations en Grèce, le mouvement des Indignés et Occupy Wall Street. Cet article s’intéresse à la présence d’idées et de pratiques anarchistes au sein de ces mouvements, apparus au début des années 2010. Il s’appuie sur des études qui portent sur les aspects politico-économiques de ces mouvements. On pose comme hypothèse que si l’anarchisme est lié aux mouvements des années 2010 c’est au travers de ses valeurs et de ses pratiques politiques et économiques. En effet, la période qui précède les mouvements des années 2010 – –qui s’étale du milieu des années 1990 jusqu’en 2010 – a vu le développement des mouvements anti-néolibéral, altermondialiste et pro-démocratie. Ainsi, le point de contestation central qui caractérise ces mouvements – que l’on qualifiera de mouvements de la 3e vague – est donc bien politico-économique. Les études empiriques utilisées comme base de travail pour cet article ne montrent pas toutes de façon explicite le lien qui existe entre ces mouvements et l’anarchisme, mais elles révèlent cependant l’usage de pratiques politiques et économiques alternatives qui peuvent être considérées comme anarchisantes – proches des idées anarchistes sans le mentionner clairement. La présence d’idées et de pratiques anarchistes au sein des mouvements des années 2010 montre ainsi un lien avec la réémergence de l’anarchisme, sous la forme du post-anarchisme, depuis le milieu des années 1990 et dont le développement est étroitement lié au mouvement altermondialiste. Sous cette nouvelle forme, l’anarchisme a tendance à s’éloigner de son passé violent du XIXe siècle. Ainsi, même si l’anarchisme n’est pas mentionné comme tel dans la presse grand public, il existe au travers de nouveaux mouvements tels que l’alter-mondialisme et les expériences de démocratie directe.

scholarly journals Social Movements in Europe, from the Past to the Present

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Taborda Silva Célia
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Public Space ◽  
21St Century ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Trade Unionism

Over time, the concept of social movement has evolved as society has changed, but has always implied collective action in the public space. The form of social contestation has changed, according to the conjuncture of each historical period. In 18th century, the transition from the Old Regime to Liberalism provoked movements considered by some authors as “primitive” or “premodern”, as they were spontaneous, sporadic and depoliticized. Industrial society of the 19th century gave rise to the labor movement and trade unionism, which from then on organized the social movements. In the 20th century there were changes and innovation in the collective way of acting, there was the emergence of a series of social movements that differ from the traditional in terms of the objectives and actors involved, such as the pacifist, ecologist, feminist movements, acting on the fringes of parties and unions. The 21st century has witnessed a set of movements that begin on social networks, such as Generation Scratch, Outraged, Occupy Wall Street, Screw the Troika, and quickly outgrow local scales to become global. Through the use of a theoretical and conceptual framework derived from the theories of social movements and taking into account the current transformation of collective action that has been witnessed in the 21st century, we intend to verify if we are facing a new social phenomenon or another phase of “repertoire” change.

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