Political Protest in Times of Crisis. Construction of New Frames of Diagnosis and Emotional Climate

Abstract

In times of crisis, political mobilizations increase. Many of them compete to impose a determined diagnosis of the situation. This work analyses this issue, taking into consideration two of the movements that have had a greater incidence during the crisis in Spain: The Catalonian National Assembly and the Marches for dignity. The objective is to know how the categories of aggrieved ingroup and outgroup responsible were identified and how both these movements defined the emotional climate at that moment. This work includes two studies. In the first one, an analysis of the categories identified in the manifestos published by these two movements was carried out. The results show that the Marches for dignity constructed a more inclusive ingroup identity and show a more negative emotional climate than the Catalonian National Assembly. The second study includes a sample of 919 participants and non-participants in 2 demonstrations called by those organizations. In this case MANOVAs of 2 (Type of demonstration: Catalonian National Assembly, Marches for dignity) × 2 (Type of participants: participants, non-participants) were performed. Results show that participants in both demonstrations have a higher level of injustice than non-demonstrators. Furthermore, demonstrators in Marches for dignity have a more negative perception of emotional climate than non-demonstrators. However, and contrary to the hypothesis, demonstrators of the Catalonian National Assembly have a more positive perception of emotional climate than non-demonstrators. The work explains these results in the socio-political context in which each of these movements acts and highlights the relevance of comparative investigation designs to further the knowledge of political mobilization dynamics.

Predicting Collective Action in a Secessionist Context: Different Motives for Two Opposed Stances

“…In this sense, the pro-independence group represents a system-challenging position as they wish to change the current configuration of the Spanish state, while the unionist group could be labelled as system supportive. Not only the pro-independence group wishes to achieve a systemic change, but also several authors have argued that they were able to re-channel the previous system-challenging discourse that arouse after the 2008 economic crisis to build a case against the Spanish state and in favour of Catalan independence ( Sabucedo et al, 2017 ; Miley, 2019 ). However, it is important to notice that the pro-independence group was in various respects privileged inside Catalonia.…”

The Importance of Protesters’ Morals: Moral Obligation as a Key Variable to Understand Collective Action

“…Occupy Wall Street , Occupy London , Geraçao à Rasca, 15-M indignados … Although protest was established long ago as one of the most prevalent forms of political participation, the number of street demonstrations during the last decade has risen remarkably ( Kriesi, 2016 ; Shuman et al, 2016 ). The 2008 financial crisis had great impact on collective action tendencies ( Likki, 2014 ; Klandermans and van Stekelenburg, 2016 ; Kriesi, 2016 ; Sabucedo et al, 2017a ) many of them being rooted in anti-system claims ( Hughes, 2011 ; Páez et al, 2013 ). Despite this increase in protests numbers being closely related to anti-system and anti-austerity claims, the normalization of protest extends to other subjects as well: the Arab Spring, anti-xenophobia marches in South Africa in 2013, Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution in 2014, or the recently held Women’s March in Washington at the beginning of 2018.…”

Entre el activismo y la mediatización: encuadres de partidos y prensa en la campaña catalana de 2017

“…El surgimiento del movimiento independentista confluye de este modo con las demandas democráticas y de cambio social que, en paralelo, son promovidas por otros movimientos de acción ciudadana en contra del sistema (Clua i Fainé, 2014). Estas organizaciones, que no habían logrado mucha influencia antes de 2008, logran vehicular ilusiones y esperanzas apuntando a una mejora en las condiciones de vida de las personas si se consigue la independencia respecto a España y situando las ideas de libertad y dignidad como un logro épico al alcance del grupo (Sabucedo et al, 2017). El progresivo apoyo ganado por esta acción colectiva entre la sociedad catalana no se explica únicamente por cuestiones de mera identidad política.…”