Large-scale disruptive activism strengthened environmental attitudes in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The 2019 London Extinction Rebellion was the first attempt by environmental protesters to create prolonged large-scale disruption in a Western capital city. The effects on public opinion were difficult to predict because protests seen as extreme can reduce support, but protests seen as justified can increase support. We studied longitudinal opinion changes in a nationally representative sample (n = 832) before, during, and after the rebellion, in conjunction with experimental analysis of the causal effects of media reports (n = 1441). The rebellion was longitudinally associated with national increases in environmental concern, and activist media increased dissatisfaction with current government action. Reports from an activist, the BBC, and the Daily Mail caused activism intentions and support to move in different directions, contributing to longitudinally increased polarisation in attitudes to activism. The rebellion had minimal effects on belief in whether ordinary people can produce relevant change (based on collective efficacy and support for a Citizens’ Assembly). The rebellion thus succeeded in some aims and did not show evidence of any important backlash.

The power of protest in the media: examining portrayals of climate activism in UK news

“…Indeed, there has been a wealth of work on climate activism in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, using measures other than press coverage to evaluate the outcome of a protest or action, such as public opinion polling and electoral results. For example, Kenward and Brick (2023) found that the 2019 Extinction Rebellion protests increased pro-environmental attitudes among members of the general public. Meanwhile significant polling by the UK-based Social Change Lab has found that disruptive actions can increase support for more moderate groups, that climate action can increase the likelihood of members of the public to engage in climate action, and that the Grand National protests led to simultaneous positive and negative outcomes (from Animal Rising's point of view; Ozden and Glover 2022, Ozden and Ostarek 2022, Ozden 2023).…”

“…A large-scale analysis of news media coverage of climate change in ten countries over a twelve year timespan found that protests have a significant impact on total media coverage, but that media mentions of protests comprise a relatively small proportion of total climate coverage (Hase et al 2021). There is strong experimental evidence that links news coverage of climate protests to public environmental attitudes, with positive coverage increasing pro-climate attitudes and negative coverage decreasing proclimate attitudes (Kenward and Brick 2023). The influence of media coverage on political elites has also been demonstrated experimentally (Wouters and Walgrave 2017) and through process tracing (Hutter and Vliegencourt 2018).…”

The Power of Protest in the Media: Examining Portrayals of Climate Activism in UK News

“…A large-scale analysis of news media coverage of climate change in ten countries over a twelve year timespan found that protests have a significant impact on total media coverage, but that media mentions of protests comprise a relatively small proportion of total climate coverage (Hase, Mahl, Schäfer, Keller, 2021). There is strong experimental evidence that links news coverage of climate protests to public environmental attitudes, with positive coverage increasing pro-climate attitudes and negative coverage decreasing pro-climate attitudes (Kenward and Brick, 2023). The influence of media coverage on political elites has also been demonstrated experimentally (Wouters and Walgrave, 2017) and through process tracing (Hutter and Vliegencourt, 2016).…”

“…Indeed, there has been a wealth of work on climate activism in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, using measures other than press coverage to evaluate the outcome of a protest or action, such as public opinion polling and electoral results. For example, Kenward and Brick (2023) found that the 2019 Extinction Rebellion protests increased pro-environmental attitudes among members of the general public. Meanwhile significant polling by the UK-based Social Change Lab has found that disruptive actions can increase support for more moderate groups, that climate action can increase the likelihood of members of the public to engage in climate action, and that the Grand National protests led to simultaneous positive and negative outcomes (from Animal Rising's point of view; Ozden a, b, c).…”

Barriers to Climate Activism: The Vital Role of Social Identification

“…XR's strategy is based on collective action, using "non-violent civil disobedience" to protest about climate change. Past XR protests have increased environmental concern, and dissatisfaction with current government action (Kenward & Brick, 2023;Kountouris & Williams, 2023).…”