Title: From crowd events to social movements
1From crowd events to social movements
- John Drury
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex
- EASP Medium Size Meeting on
- Collective Action and Social Change
- Toward Integration and Innovation
- July 3-6, 2009, Groningen, The Netherlands
2From crowd events to social movements
- Acknowledgements
- Steve Reicher, Charles Abraham, Dermot Barr,
Joseph Beale, Chris Cocking, Angela Haddow,
Charlotte Hanson, Karl Marx, Faye Rapley,
Clifford Stott
3From antecedents.
- Perceptions of collective illegitimacy and
disadvantage (Wright Tropp, 2002) - Identification (Veenstra Haslam, 2000 Van
Zomeren et al., 2008) - Instrumental rewards (Simon Klandermans, 2001
Sturmer Simon, 2004) - Group efficacy (Kelly Breinlinger, 1995
Klandermans 1992) - Activist identity (Simon)
- Normative alignment (Thomas, 2009)
4to consequences.
- Only lately have psychologists taken an interest
- Human flourishing (Kasser Klar, 2006)
- Pride, policization, group relations (Fedi,
Mannarini, Rovere, in press) - Consolidating or eroding commitment to the group
(Louis, in press) - Emotion, empowerment, well-being, resilience (Van
Zomeren)
5to consequences.
- But psychological consequences of CA have long
been documented by sociologists, political
scientists and historians - Class consciousness (Mann, 1973)
- Continued activism and liberal values (McAdam,
1989) - Opposition to police, positive relations to other
groups (Green, 1990) - Pride (Britt Heise, 2000)
6to consequences.
- Seem to be subjectively and socially important!
- Paris, 1968
- the tumultuous development of the students'
struggle ... transformed both the relation of
forces in society and the image, in people's
minds, of established institutions and of
established leaders (Anon., 1968, p. 51). - The occupants of Censier suddenly cease to be
unconscious, passive objects shaped by particular
combinations of social forces they become
conscious, active subjects who begin to shape
their own social activity (Gregoire Perlman,
1969, pp. 37-41).
7From antecedents to consequences and back?
- Two-fold argument
- 1. Prima facie, theoretical, and practical
reasons to seek conceptual integration of
antecedents and consequences of CA.
8From antecedents to consequences and back?
- 2. Crowd research offers a way into such
integration. - Crowd events provide insights into psychological
and social change - We need the ESIM (or something like it) to grasp
the relation between antecedents/ crowd events
and social movements /consequences and back
9Overview
- Reasons for conceptual integration of the
antecedents and consequences of CA - A prima facie case
- The theoretical case The elaborated social
identity model (ESIM) of the crowd and beyond - Practical reasons for research of this kind
101. A prima facie case
- Watts riot,
- Los Angeles, 1965
- Antecedents
- Grievance/relative deprivation
- Police racism
- New black identities developing
- Failure of non-violent movement
- Consequences
- Empowerment and black pride
- Black /working class social movements
- Legislation and social policy
- For the first time people in Watts feel a real
pride in being black (cited in Milgram Toch,
1969)
112. The theoretical case
- Elaborated Social Identity Model (ESIM Reicher,
Stott Drury) - A historical, interactive account of identity
(self) and context (social world) change through
crowd dynamics. - Hence a framework for showing links between
- Crowd events and social movements
- Antecedents and consequences of CA
12ESIM
- Based upon social identity and self cat
principles - To explain change in crowd events
- Dynamics and conditions
- Concepts
- Types of change
13ESIM (1) Dynamics and conditions
- Crowd may begin as divided
- Police perceive crowd homogeneity. Police
practices impose a common fate on crowd members - Crowd unites around opposition to the police.
- Conditions
- (i) asymmetry of categorical representations
between crowd participants and the police - (ii) asymmetry of power the police initially
able to impose their definition of legitimate
practice on the crowd. - Where police action is seen as both
indiscriminate and illegitimate ? more
willingness to enter into conflict with the
police. - The emergence of a inclusive self-categorization
(as oppositional) within the crowd leads to
feelings of unity this empowers crowd members to
take on the police.
14ESIM (2) Concepts
- Identity
- a representation of ones position in a set of
categorical social relations, along with the
possible and proper actions that flow from that
position - Context
- those social practices which enable or constrain
our actions. - Identity and context are different moments in
time One groups identity forms context for
other groups over time, and vice versa
15ESIM (3) Types of identity change
- Psych consequences of CA that help explain how
crowd events become social movements - Identity content becoming oppositional (Drury
Reicher, 2000) - Identity boundaries joining with others (Drury,
Reicher, Stott, 2003) - Empowerment (Drury, Cocking, Beale, Hanson,
Rapley, 2005 Drury Reicher, 2005) - Changed aims and purposes of future action
(Drury, 1996 Drury Reicher, 2005, in press)
16Identity content becoming oppositional
- Longitudinal study of
- No M11 link-road campaign (1993-4)
-
- Many (inexperienced) protesters entered events
considering themselves liberal individuals. - But they were treated collectively as an
illegitimate group. - In being positioned as oppositional, they saw
themselves as oppositional far from facilitating
their democratic rights the police were
perceived as obstructing them. - Hence change in the content of the social
identity who we are.
17Identity content becoming oppositional
- Int What in particular has radicalized you do
you think? - CP25 The police. Simple as that. You can't win
sticking to the rules you can't win cos they
don't. And you've got to do something like that,
there's no other option left, I don't think. The
day of the tree eviction made me realize
there's no way you're gonna win by just sort of
going quietly, you've got to make as much fuss as
you can. Really did change me, I think, that day
the day the tree came down. (Interview)
18Identity boundaries joining with others
- Police action grouped local protesters with
national activists - The changed identity content ? protesters defined
themselves as one with other oppositional groups - the Nigerian Ogoni tribe (protesting against
Shell oil company) - those who fought injustice in the past (e.g.,
the British miners strike, 1984-5). - Hence, identity boundaries became more inclusive
in both space and time. - Following the M11 campaign, many participants
graduated from the local protest in London - to the national anti-car Reclaim the Streets
parties - to the world-wide anti-capitalist/
anti-globalization movement
19Empowerment
- Process (ESIM dynamics/conditions revisited)
- Indiscriminate police action
- ? from fragmentation to inclusive
self-categorization - ? Subjective unity/homogenization in the crowd
- ? Expectations and provision of support for
ingroup normative action - ? Ingroup normative action as collective
self-objectification
20Empowerment
- Collective self-objectification (CSO)
- Action which serves to realize (objectify)
participants social identity (their definition
of legitimate practice) in the world, over
against the power of dominant outgroups. - Some features of CSO
- CSO can itself be empowering
- CSO, like empowerment itself, feels good!
- CSO can lead to further participation
21Empowerment Evidence for aspects of CSO
1. CSO is an outcome of the crowd dynamic
specified in the ESIM Cross-sectional,
longitudinal survey of London demo against
Israeli attack on Gaza, London, January 2009
(Haddow Drury, in prep) Identification ?
Subjective unity ? Expectations of support ?
Feelings of empowerment ? CSO measures (i.e.
campaign success, achievement, goals)
22Empowerment Evidence for aspects of CSO
- 2. CSO is collective action which transforms the
social world - M11 protesters transformed a construction site
back into common land through direct action - Their action (changed social world, in line with
their collective identity) subjectively evidenced
that their group was indeed an active and
powerful subject. (Drury Reicher, 2005)
23Empowerment Evidence for aspects of CSO
- 3. CSO is not success per se but must be
group-identity congruent - Interview study of march against Labour Party
conference (Drury et al., 2005) socialists felt
empowered anarchists felt disempowered. - Lab analogue study (Drury Cocking, in prep)
- Different identities induced in participants for
which intellectual achievement was more or less
central. - They complete activities which were described as
intelligence/ability tasks - Bogus feedback on success or failure
- Then Ps completed empowerment measures
subjective success, future expectations of
success, desire for participation and positive
feelings. - Positive feedback increased the sense of
subjective success for all participants - BUT the effect of such feedback on feelings of
empowerment was greater when tasks were
identity-relevant and the effects of failure
feedback on feelings of disempowerment was
greater for those to whom the tasks were
identity-relevant.
24Empowerment Evidence for aspects of CSO
- 4. CSO is empowering
- CSO is a result of having power, but empowerment
is also an experiential outcome of CSO! (Drury et
al., 2005 Drury Reicher, 2005 Reicher
Haslam, 2006) - It was almost as if that kind of sent a kind of
wave ofa wave of kind of empowerment through a
lot of people, including protesters. I think a
lot of people suddenly realized that they
could actuallythey could actually take some
responsibility for what was going on and actually
take control. A lot of people have just
powered on since then, they really have. (M11
protester)
25Empowerment Evidence for aspects of CSO
- 5. CSO is associated with positive emotions
- Existing research demonstrates that empowering
actions are experienced as joyful. - Interview study of activists accounts of
empowering factors found CSO was statistically
the best predictor of positive emotion (Drury et
al., 2005) - That felt really brilliant, cos it was just
I dont know, theres something about overcoming
opposition. Like if wed just walked out of the
tube station and walked straight onto the road,
it wouldnt have been as good, as having to have
got round the police lines first. So it was that
kind of, you know, makes you feel more like
youve achieved something. If youre left
completely free to do whatever you want, it
doesnt feel as wa-hey! Exciting as, as the whole
crowd pulling together against some opposition
and then achieving what it wants (M41 Reclaim
the Streets party) - Cross-sectional survey of London demo against
attack on Gaza (Haddow Drury, in prep) found
CSO variables predicted happiness
26Empowerment Evidence for aspects of CSO
- 6. CSO is associated with well-being
- More speculative
- Pathway 1 Empowerment via CSO
- Perceived control reduces cardiovascular disease
and associated risk factors (de Lange et al.,
2003). Consequently, the sense of empowerment and
control engendered by the realization of identity
in collective action may enhance well-being. - Pathway 2 Positive emotions via CSO
- Just as negative emotions predispose us to
ill-health (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2002) so
positive emotions can contribute to well-being
(Moskowitz, Epel, Acree, 2008). Positive
emotions such as joy reduce anxiety, which in
turn lowers blood pressure levels and enhances
immune functioning. Joy also broadens the range
of healthy activities we engage in (Fredrickson,
2004). - Also follows the logic of ISIS (Haslam Reicher)
linking social identification with stress
reduction (via support in CA for ingroup
normative action)
27Empowerment Evidence for aspects of CSO
- 7. CSO can lead to further collective action
- Positively
- CSO was associated with an upsurge in No M11
campaign activity (Drury Reicher, 2005) - Negatively
- Lack of CSO and police control were best
predictors of reduced subsequent participation
(Drury et al., 2005)
28A positive cycle of collective action, its
antecedents and consequences From Reicher
Haslam (2006, in press)
29Empowerment and CSO Some caveats
- Is collective action always healthy?
- Stress, injury, cold and lack of food all lower
the immune system. - No simple link from CA/CSO to well-being many
intervening variables! - Gaza survey study results (Haddow Drury, in
prep) mixed - CSO marginally predicted psychological health
- BUT enduring empowerment correlated negatively
with physical health! - 2. Is CSO always predictive of future
collective action? - Some of the best successes are also associated
with burnout! - E.g. the Reclaim the Streets events followed by
police persecution and exhaustion. - Hence no simple predictive relation between CSO
and future action (Drury et al., 2005)
30Changed aims and purposes
- Changed aims link with change in identity
content - After being attacked by the authorities, M11
Protesters moved from saving particular pieces of
land to exposing the illegitimacy of the police
(Drury Reicher, in press) - Means can become ends fighting the police
becomes an aim and achievement in itself rather
than an occupational hazard - Just giving the police such a run-around,
you know, that was empowering, just like, um,
seeing that the police were, like, quite pissed
off, and just a chance to demoralise the
police, I think, although we couldnt liberate
any animals or anything like that, it was good to
see the police demoralized. (P14, Shamrock). - This can cut both ways, however!
- G8 activists elevated their protest camp (means)
into an end in itself. They felt empowered. But
promotion of activist culture served to create
an activist ghetto that alienated political
neophytes. (Barr Drury, in press).
313. Practical reasons for research on CA
- Our interest lies in support for social change
- Protests often have a bad press
- Protesters are criminalized, pathologized
- Campaigns are put down by being described as
single issue - Or the message is that collective action is
self-sacrifice, hassle - By highlighting both rational causes and
positive experiences we can contribute to the
political project of promoting collective action
participation. - An example of the ideological battle as in
the case when student protest at your university
is criminalized by the authorities in order to
discredit it. ?
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33Conclusion and summary
- The argument
- The antecedents and consequences of CA need to be
linked theoretically - ESIM is a framework for such integration and
hence explaining how crowd events can become part
of social movements - In particular the ESIM suggests
- (i) how change occurs (dynamics)
- (ii) how we need to think of identity in
explaining change (concepts) - (iii) a typology of changes in identity
34Conclusion and summary
- Why ESIM? Concepts common to related accounts
- BUT what we try to add is the historical
interactive perspective showing how key
concepts relate over time
SIT ESIM SIMCA
Identity Identity content and boundaries Identification
Stability Empower-ment Efficacy
Legitimacy, Aims, purposes Injustice
Cognitive alternatives Aims, purposes
35Conclusion and summary
- We can learn much from the crowd but ESIM is
not just a crowd theory. - The examples show how particular events are
interpreted in a wider context - Crowd events can become social movements because
- The types of change described may be enduring
changes for individuals and groups - Consequences can translate into antecedents
motivations, rationales, confidence for future
action