Collective action II Flashcards
Recap of collective action model
Different drivers of collective action across different models: perceived injustice blamed on an outgroup, emotions (eg. high anger, low fear), high efficacy, high identification with the social movement (unity, solidarity, trust). We also saw 3 motives from the dual model of collective action (collective motive, social motive and reward motive).
Together these constitute to a social psychological capital of collective action
If you are a member of the dominant group that wants to maintain a social hierarchy, it is in your interests to prevent the initiation of collective action against the status quo. It is also in your interest to demobilise people.
We’re looking at what mechanisms may undermine these drivers of collective action
3 barriers to perceiving injustice
- Social creativity (Becker, 2012)
- Benevolent prejudice (Becker & Wright, 2013)
- Stigmatization (Gorska et al., 2017)
Becker (2012) objective
Objective: examine if “social creativity” can undermine collective action.
Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979)
- People are motivated to feel good/positive about themselves.
- A group member who identifies strongly with the ingroup should be motivated to positively distinguish the ingroup from outgroups on dimensions valued by the perceiver
(Tajfel, 1978c).
Social Identity Theory:
what do groups vary in?
Groups vary in their social status/power/prestige: some have high status/power/prestige while others have low status/power/prestige…
List identity management strategies
– Individual mobility
– Social creativity
– Social competition (collective action)
What is individual mobility?
Group members can escape, avoid or deny
belonging to a disadvantaged (devalued) group and seek to become or pass as members of the advantaged group
– The individual self is different from other group members
– Individual mobility only addresses the status of the individual but does not change the social status of the whole ingroup
Examples of individual strategies which people may become tempted to engage in in order to belong to the advantaged group
1) If you are in an economically disadvantaged nation, you may seek to migrate to an economically advantaged nation and seeks to require a foreign citizenship. You do this on an individual level, you are not necessarily changing the economic conditions of the country you were in.
2) theres a whole industry trying to convince people with darker skin to whiten their skin
(these do not change the structural conditions that disadvantaged groups are part of)
Definition of social creativity
Group members redefine the intergroup comparison by representing the ingroup in positive rather than negative ways.
Social creativity: 3 things
- Compensating bias:
Compare ingroup on a dimension on which the ingroup is superior (e.g., morality to compensate for wealth) - Engage in a downward comparison:
compare ingroup with a lower status (instead of a higher status) outgroup - Re-evaluate the value or attribute of the comparison dimension:
downplay, or reject, the importance of the negative attribute your ingroup is compared on.
Do structural changes occur in relation to social creativity?
Social creativity may benefit psychological wellbeing but it does not improve the position of the ingroup as a whole within the existing system. No structural change in conditions of the ingroup!
Social competition definition
- Social competition: group members engage in conflict designed to change the status quo through collective effort (e.g. collective action).
- Unlike individual mobility and social creativity, social competition aims to improve the outcomes of the entire group by changing the conditions of the group.
What do studies looking at engaging in social creativity strategy undermine?
Collective action
Becker (2012) Study 1a
Sample, Procedure, DV, conditions
- N = 63 (community sample in Germany of mixed-gender, identified as middle-class on average)
- Sample approached by students in public places
- Context: Read a text about an increase in social inequality in Germany and upcoming cuts in the social and health system that would affect the middle class but not the wealthy upper class.
- DV= collective action tendencies against social cuts (likelihood of participating in a demonstration, attending a discussion meeting, attending a rally, distributing flyers, and signing a petition).
Two conditions (random assignment):
- Experimental condition: participants compare people like them to the richest 10% of the population on the attribute of warmth.
- Empty control
Becker (2012) Study 1a
Result
Participants (mostly middle-class) showed less interest in collective action for more social justice after comparing their group with the richest 10% of the population on warmth (compared to control)!
Engaging in compensating bias had the effect of undermining their willingness to engage in collective action
Becker (2012) Study 1b
Sample, Procedure, DV, conditions
- N = 58 women (community sample in Germany) (majority were employed)
- Sample approached by students in public places
- Context: Read a text that there have been “big changes in terms of gender equality during the last decades. Although women have been quite successful, there are distinct areas in which they are still disadvantaged. For instance, women only receive 78% of the salary men earn and have poorer chances of promotion in terms of positions that are linked to power (leadership positions, parliaments).”
- DV= collective action tendencies to protest against women’s disadvantages (likelihood of participating in a demonstration, attending a discussion meeting, attending a rally, distributing flyers, and signing a petition).
Two conditions (random assignment):
- Experimental condition: participants compare women to men on the attribute of warmth (e.g. warm, unselfish)
- Empty control
Becker (2012) Study 1b
Result
Women showed less interest in collective action against gender inequality after comparing women to men on warmth (compared with control)!
Engaging in compensation bias undermined women’s intentions to engage in collective action.
Becker (2012) Study 1c
Sample, conditions
- N = 74 unemployed persons of mixed gender (community sample in Germany)
- Sample approached at the local job center
- Three conditions (random assignment)
- downward comparison
- upward comparison
- Control
Explain the conditions used in Becker (2012) Study 1c and DV
Downward comparison condition:
“compared with the unemployed in the United States, the unemployed in Germany are better off. Germans get the double amount of financial support, and the health care system is much better for the unemployed in Germany.”
Upward comparison condition:
“compared with the unemployed in Scandinavia, the unemployed in Germany are worse off. Scandinavians get the double amount of financial support, and the health care system is much better for the unemployed in Scandinavia” .
Empty control condition
DV = likelihood of engaging in collective action to protest the situation of unemployed Germans.
Becker (2012) Study 1c
Result
- Unemployed in downward comparison were less interested in collective action against unemployment compared to control.
- Unemployed in upward comparison condition were more interested in collective action against unemployment compared to control.
Becker (2012) Study 1d
sample, conditions, context
- N = 126 women (study among online users in Germany), half were employed
- Three conditions (random assignment)
- downward comparison: Women compare the job situation of women today to women’s job situation 50 years ago
- upward comparison: Women compare the job situation of men to women today
- Control
Context: Read a text that there have been “big changes in terms of gender equality during the last decades. Although women have been quite successful, there are distinct areas in which they are still disadvantaged. For instance, women only receive 78% of the salary men earn and have poorer chances of promotion in terms of positions that are linked to power (leadership positions, parliaments).”
