Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T05:37:45.121Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

31 - Collective Action for Social Change

Individual, Group, and Contextual Factors Shaping Collective Action and Its Outcomes

from Part III - Contemporary Challenges to Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

By
Emma F. Thomas ,
Winnifred R. Louis  and
Craig McGarty
Edited by
Danny Osborne  and
Chris G. Sibley
Danny Osborne
Affiliation:
University of Auckland
Chris G. Sibley
Affiliation:
University of Auckland
Get access

Summary

Collective action is a pervasive aspect of political life in the 21st century. In the past 20 years, it has also been increasingly studied as a psychologically mediated and consequential form of political behaviour. Initial research focused primarily on the collective organisation of action. This was appropriate: collective action is inherently a group phenomenon. However, this chapter adapts the framework provided by Duncan (2012) to take a broader perspective to examine contemporary scholarship in relation to the individual, group, and contextual factors shaping collective action and its outcomes. We review literature emphasising a key role for individual differences in ideological beliefs and moral conviction, in shaping engagement in collective action. Life experiences such as contact with members of disadvantaged groups, and mobilising interactions (online and offline) have allowed people to co-act across ostensible category boundaries. The depth and breadth of the contemporary literature suggests the need for a broader meta-theory, drawing on the principles of dynamic interactionism, to allow us to more fully articulate what kinds of situations elicit mobilisation potential, and for whom.

Keywords

Collective actionSocial changeSocial identityIdeologyMorality
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology , pp. 492 - 507
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ayanian, A. H., & Tausch, N. (2016). How risk perception shapes collective action intentions in repressive contexts: A study of Egyptian activists during the 2013 post‐coup uprising. British Journal of Social Psychology, 55(4), 700–721.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, J. C. (2012). Virtual special issue on theory and research on collective action in the European Journal of Social Psychology. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42(1), 19–23.Google Scholar
Becker, J. C. (2020). Ideology and the promotion of social change. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 6–11.Google Scholar
Becker, J. C., & Tausch, N. (2014). When group memberships are negative: The concept, measurement, and behavioral implications of psychological disidentification. Self and Identity, 13(3), 294–321.Google Scholar
Becker, J. C., Wright, S. C., Lubensky, M. E., & Zhou, S. (2013). Friend or ally: Whether cross-group contact undermines collective action depends on what advantaged group members say (or don’t say). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(4), 442–455.Google Scholar
Bliuc, A., McGarty, C., Reynolds, K. J., & Muntele, D. (2007). Opinion-based group membership as a predictor of commitment to political action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37(1), 19–32.Google Scholar
Bongiorno, R., McGarty, C., Kurz, T., Haslam, S. A., & Sibley, C. G. (2016). Mobilizing cause supporters through group‐based interaction. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(4), 203–215.Google Scholar
Burstein, P. (2003). The impact of public opinion on public policy: A review and an agenda. Political Research Quarterly, 56(1), 29–40.Google Scholar
Cakal, H., Hewstone, M., Schwär, G., & Heath, A. (2011). An investigation of the social identity model of collective action and the ‘sedative’ effect of intergroup contact among black and white students in South Africa. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50(4), 606–627.Google Scholar
Cameron, J. E., & Nickerson, S. L. (2009). Predictors of protest among anti‐globalization demonstrators. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39(3), 734–761.Google Scholar
Castells, M. (2012). Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the age of the Internet. Polity Press.Google Scholar
Chayinska, M., Minescu, A., & McGarty, C. (2019). ‘We fight for a better future for our country’: Understanding the Ukrainian Euromaidan movement as the emergence of a social competition strategy. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(1), 45–65.Google Scholar
Chenoweth, E., & Stephan, M. J. (2011). Why civil resistance works: The strategic logic of nonviolent conflict. Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Choma, B., Hodson, G., Jagayat, A., & Hoffarth, M. R. (2019). Right‐wing ideology as a predictor of collective action: A test across four political issue domains. Political Psychology, 41(2), 303–322.Google Scholar
Dixon, J., Levine, M., Reicher, S., & Durrheim, K. (2012). Beyond prejudice: Are negative evaluations the problem and is getting us to like one another more the solution?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35(6), 411–425.Google Scholar
Dixon, J., Tropp, L. R., Durrheim, K., & Tredoux, C. (2010). ‘Let them eat harmony’: Prejudice-reduction strategies and attitudes of historically disadvantaged groups. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(2), 76–80.Google Scholar
Droogendyk, L., Wright, S. C., Lubensky, M., & Louis, W. R. (2016). Acting in solidarity: Cross‐group contact between disadvantaged group members and advantaged group allies. Journal of Social Issues, 72(2), 315–334.Google Scholar
Drury, J., Cocking, C., Beale, J., Hanson, C., & Rapley, F. (2005). The phenomenology of empowerment in collective action. British Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 309–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drury, J., & Reicher, S. (2005). Explaining enduring empowerment: A comparative study of collective action and psychological outcomes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35(1), 35–58.Google Scholar
Drury, J., & Reicher, S. (2009). Collective psychological empowerment as a model of social change: Researching crowds and power. Journal of Social Issues, 65(4), 707–725.Google Scholar
Duckitt, J., & Sibley, C. G. (2010). Personality, ideology, prejudice, and politics: A dual‐process motivational model. Journal of Personality, 78(6), 1861–1894.Google Scholar
Duncan, L. E. (2012). The psychology of collective action. In Deaux, K. & Snyder, M. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of personality and social psychology (pp. 781–803). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Feinberg, M., Willer, R., & Kovacheff, C. (2020). The activist’s dilemma: Extreme protest actions reduce popular support for social movements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(5), 1086–1111.Google Scholar
Hoskin, R. E., Thomas, E. F., & McGarty, C. (2019). Transnational contact and challenging global poverty: Intergroup contact intensifies (the right kind of) social identities to promote solidarity‐based collective action for those low in social dominance. Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology, 3(1), 23–34.Google Scholar
Jost, J. T., Becker, J., Osborne, D., & Badaan, V. (2017). Missing in (collective) action: Ideology, system justification, and the motivational antecedents of two types of protest behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(2), 99–108.Google Scholar
Kende, A., van Zomeren, M., Ujhelyi, A., & Lantos, N. A. (2016). The social affirmation use of social media as a motivator of collective action. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(8), 453–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klandermans, B. (1997). The social psychology of protest. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Klandermans, B. (2002). How group identification helps to overcome the dilemma of collective action. American Behavioural Scientist, 45(5), 887–900.Google Scholar
Leach, C. W., Iyer, A., & Pedersen, A. (2007). Angry opposition to government redress: When the structurally advantaged perceive themselves as relatively deprived. British Journal of Social Psychology, 46(1), 191–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewin, K. (1947). Group decision and social change. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Livingstone, A. G. (2014). Why the psychology of collective action requires qualitative transformation as well as quantitative change. Contemporary Social Science, 9(1), 121–134.Google Scholar
Louis, W. (2009). Collective action – and then what?. Journal of Social Issues, 65(4), 727–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louis, W. R., Amiot, C. E., Thomas, E. F., & Blackwood, L. (2016). The ‘activist identity’ and activism across domains: A multiple identities analysis. Journal of Social Issues, 72(2), 242–263.Google Scholar
Louis, W. R., Taylor, D. M., & Douglas, R. L. (2005). Normative influence and rational conflict decisions: Group norms and cost-benefit analyses for intergroup behaviour. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 8(4), 355–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louis, W., Thomas, E. F., McGarty, C., Lizzio-Wilson, M., Amiot, C. A., & Moghaddam, F. (2020). The volatility of collective action: Theoretical analysis and empirical data. Political Psychology, 41(S1), 35–74.Google Scholar
McGarty, C., Bliuc, A.-M., Thomas, E., & Bongiorno, R. (2009). Collective action as the material expression of opinion-based group membership. Journal of Social Issues, 65(4), 839–857.Google Scholar
McGarty, C., Thomas, E. F., Lala, G., Smith, L. G., & Bliuc, A. M. (2014). New technologies, new identities, and the growth of mass opposition in the Arab Spring. Political Psychology, 35(6), 725–740.Google Scholar
Meleady, R., & Vermue, M. (2019). The effect of intergroup contact on solidarity‐based collective action is mediated by reductions in SDO. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 49(5), 307–318.Google Scholar
Mummendey, A., Kessler, T., Klink, A., & Mielke, R. (1999). Strategies to cope with negative social identity: Predictions by social identity theory and relative deprivation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(2), 229–245.Google Scholar
Orazani, S. N., & Leidner, B. (2019). The power of nonviolence: Confirming and explaining the success of nonviolent (rather than violent) political movements. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(4), 688–704.Google Scholar
Osborne, D., Jost, J. T., Becker, J. C., Badaan, V., & Sibley, C. G. (2019). Protesting to challenge or defend the system? A system justification perspective on collective action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(2), 244–269.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(5), 751–783.Google Scholar
Reicher, S. (2007). Rethinking the paradigm of prejudice. South African Journal of Psychology, 37(4), 820–834.Google Scholar
Saeri, A. K., Iyer, A., & Louis, W. R. (2015). Right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation predict outsiders’ responses to an external group conflict: Implications for identification, anger, and collective action. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 15(1), 303–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumann, S., & Klein, O. (2015). Substitute or stepping stone? Assessing the impact of low‐threshold online collective actions on offline participation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(3), 308–322.Google Scholar
Simon, B., & Grabow, O. (2011). The politicization of migrants: Further evidence that politicized collective identity is a dual identity. Political Psychology, 31(5), 717–738.Google Scholar
Simon, B., & Klandermans, B. (2001). Politicized collective identity: A social psychological analysis. American Psychologist, 56(4), 319–331.Google Scholar
Simon, B., Loewy, M., Stürmer, S., et al. (1998). Collective identification and social movement participation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(3), 646–665.Google Scholar
Simon, B., & Ruhs, D. (2008). Identity and politicization among Turkish migrants in Germany: The role of dual identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1354–1366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skitka, L. J. (2010). The psychology of moral conviction. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(4), 267–281.Google Scholar
Skitka, L. J., & Bauman, C. W. (2008). Moral conviction and political engagement. Political Psychology, 29(1), 29–54.Google Scholar
Skitka, L. J., Hanson, B. E., & Wisneski, D. C. (2017). Utopian hopes or dystopian fears? Exploring the motivational underpinnings of moralized political engagement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(2), 177–190.Google Scholar
Skitka, L. J., & Morgan, G. S. (2014). The social and political implications of moral conviction. Political Psychology, 35(S1), 95–110.Google Scholar
Skoric, M. M., Zhu, Q., Goh, D., & Pang, N. (2016). Social media and citizen engagement: A meta-analytic review. New Media & Society, 18(9), 1817–1839.Google Scholar
Smith, L. G., Gavin, J., & Sharp, E. (2015). Social identity formation during the emergence of the Occupy movement. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(7), 818–832.Google Scholar
Smith, L. G., McGarty, C., & Thomas, E. F. (2018). After Aylan Kurdi: How tweeting about death, threat, and harm predict increased expressions of solidarity with refugees over time. Psychological Science, 29(4), 623–634.Google Scholar
Smith, L. G., Thomas, E. F., & McGarty, C. (2015). ‘We must be the change we want to see in the world’: Integrating norms and identities through social interaction. Political Psychology, 36(5), 543–557.Google Scholar
Stewart, A. L., Pratto, F., Bou Zeineddine, F., et al. (2016). International support for the Arab uprisings: Understanding sympathy protests using theories of social identity and social dominance. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 19(1), 6–26.Google Scholar
Stuart, A., Thomas, E. F., & Donaghue, N. (2018). ‘I don’t really want to be associated with the self-righteous left extreme’: Disincentives to participation in collective action. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 6(1), 242–270.Google Scholar
Stürmer, S., & Simon, B. (2004). Collective action: Towards a dual-pathway model. European Review of Social Psychology, 15(1), 59–99.Google Scholar
Subašić, E., Reynolds, K. J., & Turner, J. C. (2008). The political solidarity model of social change: Dynamics of self-categorization in intergroup power relations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12(4), 330–352.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1982). Social identity and intergroup relations. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In Worchel, S. & Austin, W. G. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Tausch, N., & Becker, J. C. (2013). Emotional reactions to success and failure of collective action as predictors of future action intentions: A longitudinal investigation in the context of student protests in Germany. British Journal of Social Psychology, 52(3), 525–542.Google Scholar
Tausch, N., Becker, J., Spears, R., et al. (2011). Explaining radical group behavior: Developing emotion and efficacy routes to normative and nonnormative collective action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(1), 129–148.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., Bury, S. M., Louis, W. R., et al. (2019). Vegetarian, vegan, activist, radical: Using latent profile analysis to examine different forms of support for animal welfare. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 22(6), 836–857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, E. F., Cary, N., Smith, L. G., Spears, R., & McGarty, C. (2018). The role of social media in shaping solidarity and compassion fade: How the death of a child turned apathy into action but distress took it away. New Media & Society, 20(10), 3778–3798.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., & Louis, W. R. (2013). Doing democracy: The social psychological mobilization and consequences of collective action. Social Issues and Policy Review, 7(1), 173–200.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., & Louis, W. R. (2014). When will collective action be effective? Violent and non-violent protests differentially influence perceptions of legitimacy and efficacy among sympathizers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(2), 263–276.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., Mavor, K. I., & McGarty, C. (2012). Social identities facilitate and encapsulate action-relevant constructs: A test of the social identity model of collective action. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 15(1), 75–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, E. F., & McGarty, C. A. (2009). The role of efficacy and moral outrage norms in creating the potential for international development activism through group-based interaction. British Journal of Social Psychology, 48(1), 115–134.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., & McGarty, C. A. (2018). Giving versus acting: Using latent profile analysis to distinguish between benevolent and activist support for global poverty reduction. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(1), 189–209.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., McGarty, C., Lala, G., Stuart, A., Hall, L. J., & Goddard, A. (2015). Whatever happened to Kony2012? Understanding a global Internet phenomenon as an emergent social identity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(3), 356–367.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., McGarty, C., & Mavor, K. I. (2009). Aligning identities, emotions and beliefs to create commitment to sustainable social and political action. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13(3), 194–218.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., McGarty, C., & Mavor, K. I. (2016). Group interaction as the crucible of identity formation: A glimpse at the origins of collective identity and action. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 19(2), 137–151.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., McGarty, C., Reese, G., Berndsen, M., & Bliuc, A. M. (2016). Where there’s a (collective) will, there are (effective) ways: Integrating individual and group-level factors in explaining humanitarian collective action. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(12), 1678–1692.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., Smith, L. G., McGarty, C., et al. (2019). When and how social movements mobilize action within and across nations to promote solidarity with refugees. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(2), 213–229.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. F., Zubielevitch, E., Sibley, C. G., & Osborne, D. (2019). Testing the social identity model of collective action longitudinally and across structurally disadvantaged and advantaged groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(6), 823–838.Google Scholar
Torney-Purta, J. (2002). The school’s role in developing civic engagement: A study of adolescents in twenty-eight countries. Applied Developmental Science, 6(4), 203–212.Google Scholar
Tropp, L. R., Hawi, D. R., Van Laar, C., & Levin, S. (2012). Cross‐ethnic friendships, perceived discrimination, and their effects on ethnic activism over time: A longitudinal investigation of three ethnic minority groups. British Journal of Social Psychology, 51(2), 257–272.Google Scholar
Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Blackwell.Google Scholar
van Zomeren, M. (2013). Four core social‐psychological motivations to undertake collective action. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(6), 378–388.Google Scholar
van Zomeren, M., & Louis, W. R. (2017). Culture meets collective action: Exciting synergies and some lessons to learn for the future. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 20(3), 277–284.Google Scholar
van Zomeren, M., Postmes, T., & Spears, R. (2008). Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 134(4), 504–535.Google Scholar
van Zomeren, M., Postmes, T., & Spears, R. (2012). On conviction’s collective consequences: Integrating moral conviction with the social identity model of collective action. British Journal of Social Psychology, 51(1), 52–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Zomeren, M., Postmes, T., Spears, R., & Bettache, K. (2011). Can moral convictions motivate the advantaged to challenge social inequality? Extending the social identity model of collective action. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 14(5), 735–753.Google Scholar
van Zomeren, M., Spears, R., Fischer, A. H., & Leach, C. W. (2004). Put your money where your mouth is! Explaining collective action tendencies through group-based anger and group efficacy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(5), 649–664.Google Scholar
Vestergren, S., Drury, J., & Chiriac, E. H. (2017). The biographical consequences of protest and activism: A systematic review and a new typology. Social Movement Studies, 16(2), 203–221.Google Scholar
Wright, S. C. (2009). The next generation of collective action research. Journal of Social Issues, 65(4), 859–879.Google Scholar
Wright, S. C., & Lubensky, M. E. (2009). The struggle for social equality: Collective action versus prejudice reduction. In Demoulin, S., Leyens, J., & Dovidio, J. F. (Eds.), Intergroup misunderstandings: Impact of divergent social realities (pp. 291–310). Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Wright, S. C., Taylor, D. M., & Moghaddam, F. M. (1990). Responding to membership in a disadvantaged group: From acceptance to collective protest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(6), 994–1003.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×