Collective Action Flashcards
What is collective action?
Acting as a representative of a group with the aim of improving wellbeing for the entire group.
Can engage in collective action alone or to defend other groups (solidarity-based CA)
Can be violent or non-violent; most literature focuses on non-violent
Can engage in CA to attenuate or defend existing hierarchies (e.g. pro-Palestine vs pro-Israel demonstrations) - Sidanius and Pratto (2012)
Psychological Antecedents of Collective Action
What social psychological factors motivate participation in collective a
van Zomeren et al. (2001) meta-analysis revealed:
* Grievances
Engaging in CA to oppose an injustice against a group that is blamed on another group.
found higher perceived injustice against a group was associated with greater willingness to engage in CA
comes from relative deprivation theory
> fraternal deprivation motivates CA
> subjective sense of relative deprivation (realised through comparison of group’s current situation with ideal, past or outgroup situation)
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Efficacy
the extent to which an individual believes the group can achieve the desired change through collective action
found correlational and causal links between perceived group efficacy and CA -
Social Identity
Tajfel’s definition of social identity: part of self-concept that is derived from knowledge of membership of a social group and the emotional significance attached to it
found to link to tendency to engage in CA
van Zomeren et al. (2008)
Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA)
Integrative models of collective action (1/2)
Proposes that social identity affects an individual’s tendency to engage in CA through 3 pathways: directly or mediation by grievances or perceived efficacy.
Elaborations on the model include the role of emotions in motivating CA; affective reactions to perceived injustice are more powerful than mere acknowledgement/awareness.
* Anger predicts engagement in normative (nonviolent) CA
* Contempt (unresolved anger due to continued injustice) predicts engagement in non-normative (violent) CA
Social identity related to CA can take the form of:
* identification with disadvantaged group
* politicised identity (e.g. feminist, BLM) - more powerful predictor of CA because:
-specifies target
-creates inner obligation
-more inclusive of people belonging to powerful / 3rd party groups
Sturmer and Simon (2004)
Dual Pathway Model of Collective Action
Integrative models of collective action (2/2)
Includes 2 pathways
Identity pathway
similar to SIMCA
Instrumental pathway
built on the expectancy-value theory, which states that behaviour arises from the value of expected outcomes; can be thought of an a cost-benefit analysis.
Involves 3 motives:
* collective motive - value of collective benefits being sought vs expected achievement (group efficacy)
* social motive - who in your social network encourages CA vs how much do you value their opinion
* reward motive - personal outcomes; personal rewards vs risks (e.g. arrested, losing job, injury)
Built on Olson’s (1968) Collective Action Theory which touches on ‘free-riding’; people who expect others to engage in CA for them so require selective incentives to motivate them to do so.
Becker (2012)
Social Creativity
Barriers to perceiving injustice (1/3)
built on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) - identity management strategies to help disadvantaged group members acquire a positive identity:
* individual mobility - members escape, avoid or deny membership and seek to become or pass as member of advantaged group
* social creativity - members redefine intergroup comparison by representing ingroup in positive ways
-compensating bias
-engage in downward comparison
-reevaluate value of comparison dimension
* social competition - members engage in conflict aimed at changing status quo through CA
empirical evidence; Becker (2012) studies 1a-1d
1a: compensation bias in the context of economic inequality
1b: compensation bias; gender inequality
1c: downward comparison; economic inequality
1d: downward comparison; gender inequality
some social creativity strategies can undermine collective action by reducing relative deprivation
Becker and Wright (2013)
Benevolent prejudice
Barriers to perceiving injustice (2/3)
Jackman (1994) - for dominant groups to retain power, they must
* frame their actions that demean/repress subordinate groups as ‘benevolent’
* punish those rebelling or not acting as desired
* reward those conforming or acting as desired
example: hostile vs benevolent sexism
Benevolent sexism presents a positive attitude towards women that disguises paternalistic prejudice, as it still conveys the idea that women are weak/incompetent, and justifies them having fewer rights than men
both:
* rooted in patriarchy
* emphasise gender differentiation
* adopted by all genders (internalised by women)
but benevolent sexism is additionally associated with anti-feminist positions; dangerous becasue viewed by women as less harmful so inconspicuously maintains patriarchy
empirical evidence; Becker and Wright (2013)
-women read statements differing in content (benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, gender-neutral or gender-unrelated)
-measured collective action tendencies; benevolent much lower than hostile, control in the middle
-identified gender-specific system justification as a mediator (Jost & Kay, 2006)
exposure to benevolent sexism can reduce CA against sexism by increasing gender-specific system justification
Gorska et al. (2017)
Stigmatisation
Barriers to perceiving injustice (3/3)
institutional discrimination; LGBTQ+
legal manifestations of sexual stigma:
* punishing homosexual acts
* denying basic civil liberties to sexual minorities
* not protecting sexual minorities in antidiscrimination laws
empirical evidence
Gorska et al. (2017); 5 Eastern European countries with differing institutional sexual stigma
found sexual stigma in legal system suppressed collective action among LGB individuals (pacifying effect)
internalised homophobia as a mediator; institutional sexual stigma reduces collective action by increasing internalised homophobia
Gorska et al. (2017)
Stigmatization
Barrier to ingroup identification (1/1)
Gorska et al. (2017) - stigmatisation of disadvantaged groups (LGBTQ+)
Institutional sexual stigma reduces CA by reducing ingroup identification (driven by internalised homophobia)
Radke et al. (2016) - stigmatisation of politicised groups (feminists)
* feminist identification predicts participation in feminist activism
* stigmatisation of feminists causes women to reject feminist identity despite belief in the cause
* men and women rate feminists more negatively than typical women
Reicher and Scott (2011) - stigmatisation of crowds/protests (Arab Springs)
* historically, crowds that have turned violent have been the target of prejudice
* used by authority figures to absolve themselves of any responsibility and delegitimise the crowd’s demands
