Week 9

Question 1

what is activism?

Answer 1

includes protests, strikes, boycotts etc
- the goal of activism is to promote social or cultural change in line with the cause

Question 2

what are the different types of change?

Answer 2

1. influence attitudes and beliefs about cause (voting)
2. influence behaviour eg reduce meat consumption

Question 3

what do activists want to do?

Answer 3

• they want to influence decision making
• activism is a form of collective action against an ‘outgroup’ who is often powerful
• activists are psychological groups, they dont need to be together to share a sense of togetherness

Question 4

what did Neville et al (2020) find?

Answer 4

• that shared fate lead to greater comfort in social interactions and comfort in sensual interactions

Question 5

what happens when individuals take part in activism?

Answer 5

it can increase identification with the social group/cause and motivate behaviour

Question 6

what did Vestergren et al (2019) find?

Answer 6

• studied how engaging in action can influence beliefs
• found that intergroup interaction influences intragroup processes leading to psychological change
• changes in beliefs/ attitudes can occur through a process of collective action, so once someone gets involved they’re more likely to continue engagement

Question 7

what is workplace activism?

Answer 7

• employees are increasingly demanding that their organisations take note of social and cultural issues
• the defence that companies are apolitical isnt tolerated

Question 8

what is employee and corporate activism?

Answer 8

• employee: ‘voices of difference, on issues of wider social and environmental concern, that seek to influence company action and that challenge existing patterns of power’ (Reitz and Higgins, 2022)
• corporate: the behaviour adopted by the company itself with regards to activism issues

Question 9

what are the 6 common responses identified by Reitz, Higgins and Day-Duro (2021) when managers are confronted with activism?

Answer 9

1, nonexistant - what’s activism?
2. suppression - expel it before it spreads
3. facadism - lets just say the right thing
4. defensive engagement - what do the lawyers say
5. dialogic engagement - lets sit down, talk and learn
6. stimulating activism - lets be the activist

Question 10

what are the 5 drivers to activism ACTIF? according to Reitz, Higgins and Day-Duro (2021)

Answer 10

1. Authority: what power do I have? what resources do I have?
2. Concern: does the issue really matter to me? what risks can i take?
3. Theory or change: can my agency make a difference?
4. Identity: do i regard myself as an activist?
5. Field: what’s happening locally/globally?

Question 11

what is the spectrum of activism?

Answer 11

• conservative: behaving according to existing norms
• tempered: moderate disruption to norms
• radical: fundamentally challenging norms

Question 12

what is the leaders playbook to workplace activism?

Answer 12

1. talk through assumptions about activism
2. find out what really matters to employees
3. don’t claim that the firm is apolitical
4. share info
5. include activism as part of strategic plan
6. match words with actions
7. cultivate a culture of line management listening
8. be prepared for fallout when not making people happy

Question 13

what did Capstick et al (2021) find out about scientists in activism?

Answer 13

• argues that ‘scientific neutrality’ is a flawed concept, and these historic norms aren’t serving the scientific community
• scientists have power to cut through with their message

Question 14

what is the activists dilemma?

Answer 14

• moderate actions - largely ignored
• extreme actions - gran attention but risk of being counterproductive

Question 15

what is positive and negative radical flank hypothesis?

Answer 15

positive: presence of a radical flank will increase support for more moderate factions
negative: presence of a radical flank will reduce support for moderate factions

Question 16

what were the radical flank hypotheses conclusion from Simpson et al (2022)?

Answer 16

supported the positive radical flank hypothesis - presence of a radical flank can increase identification with and support for a more moderate faction of the same social movement

Question 17

what is social identity approach (SIA) to activism?

Answer 17

• combines social identity theory which is the idea of groups and outgroups with self-categorisation theory where we like to categorise ourselves into different groups
• assumes that identity is flexible and varies at different levels of abstraction

Question 18

what is personal and collective identity?

Answer 18

• personal: as distinct and different from others
• collective: as part of an ingroup- motivating positive evaluations

Question 19

according to SIA when does behaviour change?

Answer 19

behaviour change only occurs when its perceived to be normative to ones ingroup ie how one identifies

Question 20

how can SIA be used to increase the utility of activism?

Answer 20

• activists could try and highlight salient shared ingroups eg explain why its relevant to them
• try and increase perceived guilt of ingroups
• but will messaging always be framed as coming from an outgroup and therefore rejected or seen as threatening

Question 21

what does Mackay et al (2021) say about SIA approach?

Answer 21

• groups who are higher eg big business have more to gain by protecting status quo, and so are less likely to be concerned about climate change than lower status groups who are more likely to be harmed

Question 22

what does SIA say?

Answer 22

• suggests activists need to understand what is driving pro, anti- in different groups
• messaging should be focused on challenging the status quo of different groups and helping them to redefine their group and what it means

Question 23

what 6 messages do Ferguson and Schmitt (2021) say about climate psychology?

Answer 23

1. harness individual motivation
2. nurture pro-climate norms
3. address individual resistance
4. recognise collective struggles
5. elevate transformational narratives
6. pursue durable peace

Question 24

what are the barriers to action?

Answer 24

there is a mismatch between the enormity of activist goals and the smallness of the response of individuals
- this is exacerbated when there are disadvantages to talking action eg stress, hurt

Question 25

what do Capstick and Whitmarsh (2022) say?

Answer 25

• individual actions can prompt social transformation

Question 26

how can pro-environmental behaviours ben motivated?

Answer 26

• economic/ resource considerations
• sense of moral obligation
• social expectations and behaviour of similar others
• beliefs in personal efficacy
• habits

Question 27

why is targeting diverse motivations is difficult?

Answer 27

• intervention programs can create internal contradictions
• intervention effects are often found to be short lived

Question 28

does lock of collective action mean inaction?

Answer 28

victims to injustice can feel that their actions will have limited impact when facing a powerful and well-resourced group
- a lot of groundwork is required before collective action can be taken.