Class 5: Aspects of Social Movement Activity

Collective identity and emotions

Dr. Michael C. Zeller

Opening notes

Open Stickerfrom Open Stickers

Presentation groups

Presentations line-up
Date Presenters Method
4 Dec: Daichi, Seongyeon, Jehyun TBD
18 Dec: Ayla, Tara, Theresa, Annabelle TBD
15 Jan: Luna, Emilene, Raffa, Sofia TBD

Klausur preview follow-up

  • structure of an essay
    1. Broad introductory response
    2. Elaborate in (sufficient) detail to answer the questions
    3. Describe examples
    4. Concluding summary

any follow-up questions on this? (full review in late January)

Mr Bean Benestad GIFfrom Mr Bean GIFs

Reviewing Week 4: Mobilisation, recruitment, participation

  • Individuals in networks, summing up
  • Organisations
Review Time Stickerfrom Review Time Stickers

Individuals in networks, summing up

  • networks perform many (movement-related) functions
    • socialisation
    • influencing individuals’ decisions/sympathies
      • should I stay involved? should I advocate for more radical actions? should I support different leadership?
  • weak ties can serve as better source for mobilisation than strong ties because weak ties are more likely to be inclusive and link to organisations/opportunities to engage (Granovetter 1973)
    • e.g., U.S. Civil Rights Movement relied on ‘weak-tie networks’; Italian Brigate Rosse relied on ‘strong-tie networks’ (i.e., family and close friends)
  • networks are important, but not necessary and not solely sufficient for mobilisation of an individual
    • powerful combination of strong commitment and strong ties to other participants = continued participation
    • amenable networks and frame resonance are sufficient to mobilise individuals (without need of prior connection to an org.) (cf. della Porta and Diani 2009, 125)

any follow-up questions on this?

Organisations

  1. orgs emerge out of episodes of contention
  2. orgs begin locally and scale up/spread through contention
  3. key to org survival is interpersonal networks within them (cf. Ganz 2010 on organisational structure enhancing strategic capacity)

  • difference between bureaucratic organisations and grassroots radical organisations – one common org. type distinction

  • Exclusive affiliations:

    • demand long membership accession, rigid discipline, high level of commitment
    • closed off to outside
    • examples?

  • Multiple affiliations:

    • not monopolising members’ commitment
    • multiple commitments is a source of strength
    • facilitates circulation of information, especially through informal/interpersonal networks

any follow-up questions on this?

Collective identity

  • defining collective identity
  • visible collective identity example 1
  • discussion question
  • visible collective identity example 2
  • collective identity and participation
  • intersectionality
Tc The Collective GIFfrom Tc GIFs

Defining collective identity

  • identity - our understanding of who we are & who other people are
    • personal identity: self-definition in terms of attributes
    • social identity: self-definition in social category memberships
  • collective identity:
    • an individual’s cognitive, moral and emotional connection with a broader community, category, practice, or institution’ (Polletta and Jasper 2001, 285) — but also created between individuals
    • shared definition of a group derived from members’ common interests, experience, and solidarity; these are communities, held together by common action and shared identity discourse
      • visible in a group’s shared symbols, rituals, narratives/stories, beliefs, values, clothing

Visible collective identity, example

Visible collective identity, example


‘creation of strong identity can lead to backlash’ \(\rightarrow\) countering identities with different symbols, rituals, beliefs, etc.

(we will return to this in Class 10 on counter-mobilisation)

Discussion question

Is collective identity a ‘process’ or a ‘product’? (What about in cases you know of?)

Visible collective identity, example

anyone know what’s going on here?

  • pro-abortion rights movement in Argentina – an item that helps identification in the public space
    • tactic: get celebrities to hold a green scarf

Collective identity and participation

  • group identification bridges social identity (i.e., membership in social category) with collective identity (i.e., membership in a conscious collective)
    • the social psychological answer to why people participate in protest
    • the more people identify with a group, the more inclined they are to protest on behalf of that group

Collective identity and participation

  • group identification bridges social identity (i.e., membership in social category) with collective identity (i.e., membership in a conscious collective)
    • the social psychological answer to why people join in protest
    • the more people identify with a group, the more inclined they are to protest on behalf of that group
  • Key distinction:
    • ascribed group membership - difficult to change
    • acquired group membership - adopted by choice
    • examples?

Collective identity and participation

  • group identification bridges social identity (i.e., membership in social category) with collective identity (i.e., membership in a conscious collective)
    • the social psychological answer to why people join in protest
    • the more people identify with a group, the more inclined they are to protest on behalf of that group
  • Components of collective identity
    1. Boundaries: where does we stop and everyone else begin
    2. Consciousness: (a) awareness of group membership and (b) recognition of group’s position within society
    3. Negotiation: changing thinking, framing, understanding of life — politicisation

Intersectionality

  • people typically hold many different identities, simultaneously
    • i.e., many different identities overlap, interweave, … intersect
  • dual identity - one can feel impelled to protest due to some group identification, but also loyal to an overarching system of which they are a part
    • healthy for protest participation in a democracy

Activists may define their identities in different ways depending on the strategic situation. If they are representing their group to a public audience, they may cast themselves as more unified and more homogeneous than they would in a setting of fellow activists.

Cleavages - one grand theory to explain it all…

  • turning identity into action
  • values and attitudes
  • materialist and post-materialist values
  • silent (counter-)revolution
  • cleavages and collective identity
I Feel The Conflict In You Its Tearing You Apart GIFfrom I Feel The Conflict In You GIFs

What turns identity into action?

  • group-based conflict within society can stimulate group identification

What turns identity into action?

  • group-based conflict within society can stimulate group identification

\(\downarrow\)

  • cleavages are the most solid basis of group-based conflict
    • fault lines of opposing identities, e.g.,
      • class - ‘I’m working class and you’re aristocracy’
      • ethnicity - ‘I’m Roma and you’re Hungarian’
      • religion - ‘I’m Catholic and you’re Protestant’
      • region/urban-rural - ‘I’m from the (northern) city and you’re from the (southern) countryside’
      • (newer) postmaterialism/materialism, globalisation winners/ losers

It’s all about…

Values

Attitudes

It’s all about…

Attitudes

Values

  • broad, deep-seated beliefs about what is important in life
  • stable over time, typically long-term and more abstract
  • influenced by socialisation (e.g., family, culture, education)
  • e.g., societies of survival vs. self-expression

It’s all about…

Values

Attitudes

It’s all about…

Values

Attitudes

  • specific and short-term predispositions or opinions that individuals hold toward specific objects, issues, or policies
  • situational, influenced by context (e.g., economic conditions, political events) and personal experiences

It’s all about…

Values

Attitudes

values shape attitudes

values & attitudes in brief (Inglehart, Norris, Welzel)

  • Inglehart magnifies Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to societal (macro-) level of analysis → aligns with groups and their socio-political values and attitudes
  • basic material needs satisfied enables seeking non-material needs

values & attitudes in brief (Inglehart, Norris, Welzel)

  • materialist values
    • economic growth (maintaining stability and order)
    • security and material needs safeguarded
    • traditional morality
  • post-materialist values (evidence: decline in religious values; effect: rise of green parties and new social movements)
    • freedoms, liberties, rights — autonomy and expression
    • gender and racial equality
    • environmental protection
  • societal groups (existing cleavages) show tendencies for these values groups: generationally, regionally, class-based, religiously

values & attitudes in brief (Inglehart, Norris, Welzel)

  • values shift (‘silent revolution’) from materialist to post-materialist—results in cleavage shift (‘silent counter-revolution’) (cf. Schäfer 2022)
    • materialist cleavages around class and economics
    • post-materialist cleavages around cultural issues

Welzel 2021 - transformative power of values

Cleavages and collective identity

  • This matters…
    • because cleavages (macro-level) form common basis for social identity and group identification (micro-level), which in turn fuels collective identity
  • Materialist - Post-materialist cleavage, for example, may be the root of
    • movements of ethno-nationalists opposing migration rights movements
    • climate preservation movements opposing economic development movements

Collective identity in action

  • humour in social movements
  • summarising collective identity
Action Clapperboard GIFfrom Action GIFs

Humour in ‘new atheist movement’ (Guenther et al. 2015)

  • 3 years of fieldwork in southern California on movement activities
  • humour used to…
    • form/maintain collective identity, including establish boundaries (‘we’re funny; the religious are dull and dour’)
    • manage stigma of being ‘unbeliever’
    • mobilise (‘come join our fun, jokey group’)
    • perform actions (cf. Bogad 2016 on ‘tactical frivolity’)

Humour in ‘new atheist movement’ (Guenther et al. 2015)

  • 3 years of fieldwork in southern California on movement activities
  • humour as collective identity
    • reflected in framing: e.g., opponents represented as ridiculous
    • tactics: humour as less confrontational mode of opposition (cf. Bogad 2016)

Collective identity, summary notes

Collective identity, summary notes

collective identity is…

  • both an individual-level and group-level phenomenon
  • composed of boundaries, consciousness, and negotiation
  • fluid, adaptable, and relational – not fixed
  • a result and part of continually developing intersecting identities
  • not same as ‘ideological commitment’
    • one can join a movement for ideological reasons without identifying with members, and vice versa

Any questions, concerns, feedback for this class?

Anonymous feedback here: https://forms.gle/AjHt6fcnwZxkSg4X8

Alternatively, please send me an email: m.zeller@lmu.de

References

Bogad, Lawrence M. 2016. Tactical Performance. London: Routledge.
della Porta, Donatella, and Mario Diani. 2009. Social Movements: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-008044910-4.00803-8.
Granovetter, Mark S. 1973. “The Strength of Weak Empathy.” American Journal of Sociology 78 (6): 1360–80. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0269889712000130.
Guenther, Katja M, Natasha Radojcic, and Kerry Mulligan. 2015. “Humor, Collective Identity, and Framing in the New Atheist Movement.” In Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Volume 38, 203–30. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.
Polletta, Francesca, and James M Jasper. 2001. “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27 (1): 283–305.
Schäfer, Armin. 2022. “Cultural Backlash? How (Not) to Explain the Rise of Authoritarian Populism.” British Journal of Political Science 52 (4): 1977–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123421000363.