Collective angst and group continuity as predictors of collective action for progressive city policies

Abstract

Paweł Adamowicz, the liberal mayor of Gdańsk, Poland, died on January 14, 2019, after being stabbed by a man who rushed onstage during a charity event. Four studies were carried out to analyze the predictors of willingness to engage in collective action in support of the progressive city policies he initiated. In Study 1 ( N = 214), collective angst was related to collective action intention. Identification with Gdańsk mediated this relation. In the next two studies, we tested the role of the perceived continuity of the in-group. The relationship between collective angst and willingness to support collective actions was mediated by perceived essentialist continuity of the group (Study 2, on snap election day, N = 121). Moreover, results confirmed that collective angst predicted strength of identification with Gdańsk. This identification was related to the perceived essentialist continuity of the group, which in turn was linked to willingness to engage in collective actions in support of progressive policies (Study 3, N = 98). In Study 4 ( N = 456), conducted within a few days before the presidential election in Poland, we replicated the model of mediation obtained in Study 3, and showed that contextualized collective angst also predicted collective action intentions.

The role of temporal analogies in collective movements

“…to be put into a concentration camp). This finding corresponds to previous research on collective angst, which demonstrated that perceiving the ingroup's future as jeopardised is associated with increased support for collective action (Jaśkiewicz et al., 2022; Wohl et al., 2010).…”

“…to be put into a concentration camp). This finding corresponds to previous research on collective angst, which demonstrated that perceiving the ingroup's future as jeopardised is associated with increased support for collective action (Jaśkiewicz et al, 2022;Wohl et al, 2010). Thus, morality, injustice, identification and efficacy from the SIMCA model constituted the building blocks of why people protested the containment measures.…”

Vocabularies And Rituals of Climate Grief In Canada: A Typology

“…Anxiety, an emotion that focuses on future threats of negative events, is an emotion that also occurs when a group's identity is threatened (Wohl et al 2010). This experience of anxiety due to possible threatrelated outcomes leads people to invest time and effort to prepare for and avoid these potential negative events (Wohl et al 2010), and in this context, intentions for collective action are more likely to appear (Jaśkiewicz et al 2021). Our ndings of the prominent focus on feelings of anxiety as they are related to climate grief (éco-anxiété), as well as the focus on solutions to these feelings, may relate to this history.…”

When out-groups are perceived as out of place: urban disorder sensitivity and environmental distance

“…Although the urban disorder sensitivity measure is generally related to the urban context, future research should take better account of the specific contexts. We conduct our research mainly among inhabitants of Gdansk, Poland, where despite the multi-cultural tradition ( Jaśkiewicz et al, 2021 ), the society is ethnically homogeneous. We chose Muslims as the target group because Islamophobia represents an important form of contemporary outgroup bias in Poland, but Ukrainians constitute the largest group of immigrants.…”