The Use of Disruptive Tactics in Protest as a Trade-Off: The Role of Social Movement Claims

Wang, Dan J.; Piazza, Alessandro

doi:10.1093/sf/sov124

Cited by 56 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…It is difficult to know in such data whether violence versus nonviolence alters public perceptions of protesters, whether the use of violence versus nonviolence is a strategic response by protesters to differences in perceived public support, or whether organizations that use violence lose popularity for other reasons. Indeed, Wang and Piazza (2016) found that activists tend to avoid the use of violence when their claims or goals are supported by a broad swath of the public. Thus, we cannot tell from prior work whether, or to what extent, the use of violence by activists is a cause or consequence of relatively negative public perceptions.…”

Section: The Effects Of Violent Protests On Public Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Violent Protest Backfire? Testing a Theory of Public Reactions to Activist Violence

Simpson

Willer

Feinberg

2018

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

101

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How do people respond to violent political protest? The authors present a theory proposing that the use of violence leads the general public to view a protest group as less reasonable, a perception that reduces identification with the group. This reduced identification in turn reduces public support for the violent group. Furthermore, the authors argue that violence also leads to more support for groups that are perceived as opposing the violent group. The authors test this theory using a large ( n = 800) Internet-based survey experiment with a politically diverse sample. Participants responded to an experimental scenario based on recent violent confrontations between white nationalist protesters and antiracist counter-protesters, allowing the authors to study whether violent protest would reduce public support even when used against a widely reviled group. The authors found that the use of violence by an antiracist group against white nationalists led to decreased support for the antiracist group and increased support for the white nationalist group. Furthermore, the results were consistent with the theorized causal process: violence led to perceptions of unreasonableness, which reduced identification with and support for the protest group. Importantly, the results revealed a striking asymmetry: although acts of violence eroded support for an antiracist group, support for white nationalist groups was not reduced by the use of violence, perhaps because the public already perceives these groups as very unreasonable and identifies with them at low levels. Consistent with this interpretation, the authors found that self-identified Republicans, a subset of the sample that reported less extremely negative views of white nationalists, showed reduced support for white nationalists when they engaged in violence.

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Section: The Effects Of Violent Protests On Public Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Violent Protest Backfire? Testing a Theory of Public Reactions to Activist Violence

Simpson

Willer

Feinberg

2018

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These diverging findings can be reconciled, however, in that they have different objects of investigation. Whereas most organizational theorists have studied the illegitimacy discount by focusing on how the organization is perceived in general (especially by critics and other professional analysts), social movement scholars have instead investigated, for instance, such factors as event recruitment (Heaney and Rojas, 2014;Van Dyke 2003) and tactical repertoires (Wang and Piazza, 2016). This is not an apples-to-apples comparison.…”

Section: Movements In Fields: Institutional Authencitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing the Cause: A Theory of Authenticity in Social Movements*

Walker¹,

Stepick²

2020

Mobilization: An International Quarterly

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Scholars of contentious politics expect that social movement organizations (SMOs) are valued according to their ability to craft resonant frames or to enact displays of worthiness. We offer an alternative, relational perspective highlighting the critical role of authenticity in shaping an SMO's perceived value. Unlike frames and intentional displays, calculated efforts to proclaim authenticity often backfire. We distill two orthogonal types: grassroots (in)authenticity, based on idealized notions of civil society, and institutional (in)authenticity, rooted in culturalcognitive schemas used to judge fit with established SMO categories. Grassroots authenticity benefits an SMO's fundamental legitimacy, while lacking it entirely (i.e., “astroturfing”) severely harms public support. Institutional authenticity increases resources and survival chances, intelligibility to elite observers, and clarity of collective identities; still, lacking this (via hybridity) may assist in recruitment and outreach. We build propositions that elaborate these expectations and argue that authenticity should become a more central concept in social movement research.

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“…The socio‐political environment, while often the impetus for coalition formation across difference (Bandy & Smith, ; Grossman, ; Wiest, ), can further complicate coalition efforts to find consensus (Bandy & Smith, ; Cortright & Pagnucco, ; McCammon & Van Dyke, ) not the least because frames (as well as actions) perceived as legitimate in one community may hazard pariah status in another (Beamish & Luebbers, ; Gawerc, , ). Thus, as Wang et al () observe, diverse cooperation often places significant constraints for organizations when it comes to preferred framing and tactics—as well as collective identity—given that diverse coalitions are accountable to various constituencies (see also Wang & Piazza, ).…”

Section: Challenges In Realizing Diverse Coalitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The socio-political environment, while often the impetus for coalition formation across difference (Bandy & Smith, 2005;Grossman, 2001;Wiest, 2010) (Beamish & Luebbers, 2009;Gawerc, 2012Gawerc, , 2016. Thus, as Wang et al (2018) observe, diverse cooperation often places significant constraints for organizations when it comes to preferred framing and tactics-as well as collective identity-given that diverse coalitions are accountable to various constituencies (see also Wang & Piazza, 2016).…”

Section: Reaching Agreement On a Shared Agenda Tactics And Framesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse social movement coalitions: Prospects and challenges

Gawerc

2019

Sociology Compass

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Coalitions are among the most important tactical tools available for social movements and civil resistance campaigns, as they enable the sharing of networks, resources, expertise, and information, while simultaneously projecting an image of power through unity and numbers. Though exceptionally challenging to build, diverse coalitions are viewed by many as particularly important. However, there is considerably less literature that explicitly discusses them. In this article, I review the literature on diverse coalitions, with a focus on both their theorized and documented importance for social movements and civil resistance campaigns, and the challenges they face (including the factors working against their formation and sustainability). To do so, I bring two closely related but often separate literatures into conversation: social movements and civil resistance. I conclude by evaluating the state of this research area, highlighting remaining gaps, and suggesting directions for future research.

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The Use of Disruptive Tactics in Protest as a Trade-Off: The Role of Social Movement Claims

Cited by 56 publications

References 56 publications

Does Violent Protest Backfire? Testing a Theory of Public Reactions to Activist Violence

Does Violent Protest Backfire? Testing a Theory of Public Reactions to Activist Violence

Valuing the Cause: A Theory of Authenticity in Social Movements*

Diverse social movement coalitions: Prospects and challenges

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