Collective Action

Question 1

Recent protest movements:

Answer 1

• Mapping protests held in solidarity with palestine

Question 2

Collective action:

Answer 2

• “A group member engages in collective action anytime that he or she is acting as a representative of the group and the action is directed at improving the condition of the entire group.” (Wright, Taylor, & Moghaddam, 1990)
  
  • “Collective action is traditionally defined as any action that aims to improve the status, power, or influence of an entire group, rather than that of one or a few individuals” (van Zomeren & Iyer, 2009)

Question 3

Points to keep in mind:

Answer 3

• An individual can engage in collective action alone
  
  • People can engage in collective action to defend other groups - solidarity-based collective action, allyship

Question 4

Nonviolent collective action:

Answer 4

• Boycotts
  
  • Marches
  • Freedom rides

Question 5

Violent collective action:

Answer 5

• Terrorism

Question 6

Collective action may seek to:

Answer 6

• Attenuate an existing hierarchy (human rights groups)
  
  • Defend or enhance an existing hierarchy or create a new hierarchy (e.g., right-wing groups)
  • Sidanius and Pratto, 2012

Question 7

Grievances:

Answer 7

• People generally take collective action to oppose an injustice against a group blamed on an outgroup
  
  • Greater perceived injustice against one’s group is associated with greater engagement in collective action (meta-analysis by van Zomeren et al., 2008 shows correlational and causal links, 65 independent samples, N=15,855)
  • Grievances are at the heart of both nonviolent and violent collective action
  • Grievances can be of different types: social, economic, political, environmental grievances. (van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013)

Question 8

Grievances - group deprivation:

Answer 8

• Relative deprivation theory:
  
  • Awareness of shared grievances
  • Egoistic vs fraternal deprivation (or group deprivation)
  • See meta-analysis by Smith and Ortiz (2002) and by Smith et al (2012)

Question 9

Grievances - relative deprivation:

Answer 9

· Relative Deprivation Theory: what matters is people’s subjective relative sense of deprivation (relative) rather than their objective deprivation (Smith et al., 2012).
· Relative deprivation rests on social comparison.
· Group members experience deprivation depending on their reference point.
· Deprivation can result from comparison with:
- an outgroup
- the ingroup’s past situation
- a desired situation for the ingroup

Question 10

Collective action model:

Answer 10

· Perceived injustice (grievances) + collective action
· Perceived efficacy + collective action
· Identification + collective action

Question 11

Efficacy:

Answer 11

· Although people are discontented in many places all over the world, they do not always protest about their state of affairs
· If people one day choose life, then destiny must respond
- Meta-analysis by van Zomeren et al (2008) shows that efficacy perceptions positively predict collective action (correlational and casual links, using 53 independent samples, N = 12,758)

Question 12

Group efficacy:

Answer 12

· The belief that it is possible to address grievances through collective action (see Mummendey et al, 1999)

Question 13

Social identity:

Answer 13

· Social Identity approach: individuals take collective action on behalf of groups their care about and identify with. (Tajfel & Turner, 1979)
· Social identification: “that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his [sic] knowledge of membership of a social group (or groups) together with the emotional significance attached to that membership” (Tajfel, 1981, p.251).

Question 14

Identity:

Answer 14

· Direct positive effects of social identification with a disadvantaged group or social movement on collective action (meta-analysis by van Zomeren et al., 2008 shows correlational and causal links, using 64 independent samples, N= 10,051).

Question 15

Social identity model of collective action (SIMCA):

Answer 15

· Social identity has both direct and indirect effects on collective action
· Indirect effects:
- identification with one’s group is linked to stronger feelings of injustice against one’s group, which leads to greater collective action engagement
- Identification with one’s group is linked to a stronger sense of efficacy to achieve the desired social change for the group, which leads to greater collective action engagement

Question 16

Emotions:

Answer 16

· Affective reactions to injustice are more powerful predictors than perceptions of injustice or relative deprivation (see meta-analyses by van Zomeren et al., 2008; Smith et al., 2012).
· Anger is a prototypical emotion associated with collective action

Question 17

Emotions 2:

Answer 17

· Different emotions can predict different types of collective action.
· Group-based anger toward the outgroup is positively associated with nonviolent forms of collective action (e.g. Tausch et al., 2011).
· Violent collective action: emotions other than anger may be at play: Contempt (Tausch et al., 2011)

Question 18

Emotions 3:

Answer 18

· Researchers explore the role of different emotions:
- in motivating collective action (e.g. anger, contempt, pride, sympathy, guilt)
- in inhibiting collective action (e.g. fear)

Question 19

Identity 2:

Answer 19

· Identification with a disadvantaged group e.g., black, woman
· Politicised identification e.g., black lives matter, feminist

Question 20

Identity - politicised identification:

Answer 20

· identification with a social movement (Simon & Klandermans, 2001) is a more proximal predictor of collective action than identification with the disadvantaged group:
- It specifies the target that we should move against
- It creates an inner obligation to act in line with what the group stands for.
- It can also be more inclusive of people who belong to powerful or third-party groups.
· (see van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013)

Question 21

Identity 3:

Answer 21

· Meta-analysis by van Zomeren et al. (2008) shows politicized identification is a stronger predictor of collective action than identification with the disadvantaged group

Question 22

Dual pathway model of collective action (Sturmer and Simon, 2004):

Answer 22

· Two pathways to collective action:
1. Identity pathway (intrinsic motivation)
2. Instrumental pathway (cost-benefit calculations-extrinsic motivation)
a. Collective motive
b. Social motive
c. Reward motive

Question 23

Dual pathway model of collective action (Sturmer and Simon, 2004) - identity pathway:

Answer 23

· The social identity approach (Tajfel & Turner, 1979)
- Politicized identification as the main proximal predictor of collective action

Question 24

Dual pathway model of collective action (Sturmer and Simon, 2004) - instrumental pathway:

Answer 24

· The model is built on:
- The expectancy-value theory: behavior results from the value of the expected outcomes of that behavior. (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980)

Question 25

Dual pathway model of collective action (Sturmer and Simon, 2004) - collective motive:

Answer 25

· Value of the collective benefits the movement seeks to acquire (e.g. equal pay, anti-discrimination law, policy change)
· Expected achievement of the collective benefits through collective action

Question 26

Dual pathway model of collective action (Sturmer and Simon, 2004) - social motive:

Answer 26

· Collective action does not happen in a social vacuum.
· Collective action happens within social networks (e.g. family, friends, co-workers)
· The more connected an individual is to others
1. who encourage protesting (expectancy)
2. Whom they care about (value) the more likely they are to take part in collective action.
· Also called the normative motive (norms surrounding participation)

Question 27

Dual pathway model of collective action (Sturmer and Simon, 2004) - reward motive:

Answer 27

· Personal outcomes affect whether people take part in collective action:
- Individuals are more motivated to engage if they expect important personal benefits from engagement:
- e.g. social contact (fun with friends)
- e.g. risks from repression (e.g. losing one’s job, risk to safety, arrests, injuries, killings) or other risks (e.g. risk to health while protesting during the pandemic)

Question 28

Dual pathway model of collective action (Sturmer and Simon, 2004) - instrumental pathway:

Answer 28

· The model is also built on:
- Collective action theory: collective benefits of social movement participation are insufficient because people may free-ride, so they need selective benefits for participation (incentives) (e.g. Olson, 1968)