Participation in (non)violent protests and associated psychosocial factors: sociodemographic status, civic engagement, and perceptions of government’s performance

Abstract

A national representative sample of adults is used to assess whether socioeconomic circumstances, civic engagement, and perceptions about government performance are associated with participation in (non)violent protests. Blacks and those who report high levels of poverty and civic engagement are likely to participate in non-violent protests. Individuals who have not completed schooling, are members of an organisation, view government as highly corrupt, and rate government’s service delivery very unfavourably are more likely to participate in violent protests than non-violent protests. The varying paths to protests including the psychosocial factors and motivational dynamics underlying individual’s participation in protests are discussed.

Multimodality, cultural production, and the protest event: Considerations of space, politics, and affect in South Africa

“…The global increase in protest is especially pronounced in South Africa (Duncan, 2016; Sikweyiya and Nkosi, 2017). Indeed, between 2015 and 2017, there were 340-375 protests recorded in the country (Swart et al, 2020).…”

“…In South Africa, protest research has shown that most protests occur in poor communities which lack basic infrastructure, service delivery, and overall development (Swart et al, 2020), with economic grievances cited as the main motivation for protest action (Sikweyiya and Nkosi, 2017). As the quality of life of most of the South African population has not improved since the formal end of apartheid in 1994, much scholarly attention has been paid to protester demographics, particularly race which “is often a proxy for income inequality” in the country (Swart et al, 2020: 481). In addition to race, however, age, sex, occupation, education, active civic engagement, and negative perceptions of government performance have also been assessed in the analysis of protest events (Swart et al, 2020).…”

“…As the quality of life of most of the South African population has not improved since the formal end of apartheid in 1994, much scholarly attention has been paid to protester demographics, particularly race which “is often a proxy for income inequality” in the country (Swart et al, 2020: 481). In addition to race, however, age, sex, occupation, education, active civic engagement, and negative perceptions of government performance have also been assessed in the analysis of protest events (Swart et al, 2020). Where age and sex are concerned, protesters in South Africa are said to typically be young males; a demographic which is generally associated with violence (Sikweyiya and Nkosi, 2017).…”

“…Where age and sex are concerned, protesters in South Africa are said to typically be young males; a demographic which is generally associated with violence (Sikweyiya and Nkosi, 2017). Swart et al (2020) report that the occurrence of violence in protests has increased by 36% between 2007 and 2014. Subsequently, protests have increasingly been characterized by (collective) violence as they are persistently portrayed as a rebellion of the poor and inherently insurrectionist, however contrary to these popular perceptions, most protest events in South Africa are not violent (Day et al, 2019; Duncan, 2016; Malherbe et al, 2020).…”