Identidad colectiva movilizada

Recuperando la clase social en el estudio de la acción colectiva. El caso de un movimiento socioambiental chileno

El presente trabajo tuvo como objetivo identificar el rol de la clase social en la participación o no participación de las personas en acciones de protesta, en el marco de las movilizaciones socioambientalistas, llevadas a cabo el año 2016 en la Isla de Chiloé, en el sur de Chile. Para esto, se realizó un estudio cuantitativo transversal, aplicándose una encuesta a una muestra aleatoria de 400 personas mayores de 18 años, de las dos principales ciudades de la isla. Se puso a prueba un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales que incluye variables identificadas por la psicología social como predictores de la participación en acciones colectivas, además de la posición de clase de los individuos, la que tradicionalmente no es considerada por la psicología social en la investigación en este campo. Los resultados muestran que el modelo propuesto ajusta adecuadamente a los datos, y que la clase social es un importante predictor de la participación en la acción colectiva, pero en la dirección opuesta a la hipotetizada. Es decir, fueron las personas de clases más altas y de sectores medios quienes tendieron a participar más en las protestas. Se discuten las implicancias de estos resultados en el marco de los movimientos socioambientales.

“Save the climate! Stop the oil”: Actual protest behavior and core framing tasks in the Portuguese climate movement

In this article, we focus on two demonstrations against climate change that took place in Portugal on the 12th of November 2016 and the 29th of April 2017. Two separate studies were conducted on the same protests. In Study 1, we conducted a quantitative study (N = 259), to examine the role of socio-demographics and socio-psychological predictors in predicting the actual protest. Participants were demonstrators (N = 158), as well as non-demonstrators (N = 101). Results indicated that moral motivation and identification as an environmentalist were the key variables in explaining actual protest. In Study 2, we conducted a framing analysis of the written manifestos (N = 2), to identify the core framing tasks which were used to inspire and legitimize the protests. The framing analysis suggests that the problems and paths for action were described by appealing to the interlinkage between the global and local dimensions of climate change, and that arguments of severity and urgency of the problem were the most salient. The implications of this research are discussed in relation to possible pathways for a more comprehensive understanding of the reasons why people engage in collective action in climate change related issues, and how these motives may relate to how social movements mobilize people for action.

Axiological-Identitary Collective Action Model (AICAM): A new integrative perspective in the analysis of protest

Current predictive models of collective action have devoted little attention to personal values, such as morals or ideology. The present research addresses this issue by incorporating a new axiological path in a novel predictive model of collective action, named AICAM. The axiological path is formed by two constructs: ideology and moral obligation. The model has been tested for real normative participation (Study 1) and intentional non-normative participation (Study 2). The sample for Study 1 included 531 randomly selected demonstrators and non-demonstrators at the time of a protest that took place in Madrid, May 2017. Study 2 comprised 607 randomly selected participants who filled out an online questionnaire. Structural equation modelling analysis was performed in order to examine the fit and predictive power of the model. Results show that the model is a good fit in both studies. It has also been observed that the new model entails a significant addition of overall effect size when compared with alternative models, including SIMCA. The present research contributes to the literature of collective action by unearthing a new, independent path towards collective action that is nonetheless compatible with previous motives. Implications for future research are discussed, mainly stressing the need to include moral and ideological motives in the study of collective action engagement.

Moral judgment, political ideology and collective action

This study aimed to further the understanding of the processes involved in activism, as a form of collective action, based on differences in the quality of moral judgment and political ideology. It began with the assumption that differences in the quality of moral judgment can lead individuals to engage in different forms of collective action: activism or radicalism. Therefore, the associations among the variables political ideology, social identity, perception of social justice, activist identity and commitment, personal political salience, perception of efficacy and life purpose were analyzed. Path modelling was used to construct two models of political action: one based on conventional moral judgment and conservative political ideology, and the other based on post-conventional moral judgment and egalitarian political ideology. These two models were tested on samples of Brazilian and Spanish youths. The results confirmed the validity of using developmental social psychology to understand activism as a form of political action. The results confirmed the central hypothesis that differences in the quality of moral judgment and in political ideology are related to willingness to engage in qualitatively different types of actions: young people with conventional moral judgment and conservative political ideology declared their intention to engage in activism, while young people with post-conventional moral judgment egalitarian political ideology reported the intention to engage in both activist and radical actions.

Political Protest in Times of Crisis. Construction of New Frames of Diagnosis and Emotional Climate

In times of crisis, political mobilizations increase. Many of them compete to impose a determined diagnosis of the situation. This work analyses this issue, taking into consideration two of the movements that have had a greater incidence during the crisis in Spain: The Catalonian National Assembly and the Marches for dignity. The objective is to know how the categories of aggrieved ingroup and outgroup responsible were identified and how both these movements defined the emotional climate at that moment. This work includes two studies. In the first one, an analysis of the categories identified in the manifestos published by these two movements was carried out. The results show that the Marches for dignity constructed a more inclusive ingroup identity and show a more negative emotional climate than the Catalonian National Assembly. The second study includes a sample of 919 participants and non-participants in 2 demonstrations called by those organizations. In this case MANOVAs of 2 (Type of demonstration: Catalonian National Assembly, Marches for dignity) × 2 (Type of participants: participants, non-participants) were performed. Results show that participants in both demonstrations have a higher level of injustice than non-demonstrators. Furthermore, demonstrators in Marches for dignity have a more negative perception of emotional climate than non-demonstrators. However, and contrary to the hypothesis, demonstrators of the Catalonian National Assembly have a more positive perception of emotional climate than non-demonstrators. The work explains these results in the socio-political context in which each of these movements acts and highlights the relevance of comparative investigation designs to further the knowledge of political mobilization dynamics.