Double-edged swords? Collective identity and solidarity in the environment movement

Politik auf der Straße? Zum Forschungsstand zu sozialen Bewegungen, Protest und Zivilgesellschaft

Soziale Bewegungen prägen zeitgenössische Gesellschaften. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert die wesentlichen Erkenntnisse der internationalen Bewegungs- und Protestforschung und ordnet den Forschungsstand ein. Das Ziel ist es, die Aufmerksamkeit sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung verstärkt auf Politik „auf der Straße“ zu lenken. Dabei fokussiert der Artikel auf vier zentrale Fragestellungen: die definitorische Annäherung an das Phänomenon (was sind soziale Bewegungen?), ihre Formierung (wann und warum entstehen soziale Bewegungen?), ihre Aktionsformen (wie agieren soziale Bewegungen?) sowie ihre Auswirkungen (welchen Einfluss haben soziale Bewegungen?). Abschließend plädiert der Beitrag für eine enge Verknüpfung von Bewegungs- und Protestforschung mit der Parteienforschung und der politischen Soziologie. Protest ist nicht bloß l’art pour l’art: Ohne eine Bezugnahme auf Parteipolitik und Gesellschaftsanalyse bleibt das Verständnis von sozialen Bewegungen begrenzt. Andererseits würde die Analyse von (Partei‑)Politik und gesellschaftlichen Makro-Entwicklungen von einer verstärkten Berücksichtigung sozialer Bewegungen profitieren.

Whistleblowing advocacy: Solidarity and fascinance

What role does difference play in relationships between partners in solidarity? In this article we add to debates on difference-in-solidarity by proposing fascinance as a critical aspect of intersubjective relations in solidarity networks. We build upon extant feminist and affect theory scholarship in doing so. Our novel approach is informed by our analysis of in-depth empirical data from a special case of solidarity – whistleblowing advocacy groups – and by Bracha Ettinger’s concept of the matrixial borderspace. Whistleblower support is a critical factor in enabling disclosures about organisational wrongdoing to come to light. Examining the experiences of workers in advocacy groups, we find that difference-in-solidarity is multi-faceted, compelling compassion while simultaneously generating ambivalence and tendencies towards exclusion. Where such contrary affects are enabled to co-exist, and where boundaries between self and other begin to be troubled, the impetus for people to work towards a common cause is enhanced. Our specific contribution is to add a matrixial perspective to debates on difference-in-solidarity: the concept of fascinance represents a powerful aspect of connection between self and other that is at once elusive, affectively felt, and invokes earlier experiences of interdependency between infant and mother. Our study also provides a unique examination of the difficulties and affordances that can accompany whistleblowing advocacy work.

From victims to citizens: Emerging activist identities in the anti-fracking movement in Bulgaria

AIMS

The anti-fracking movement in Bulgaria, 2011-2013, was a successful grassroots effort to influence national environmental policy. The study draws on social movements and community psychology scholarship to investigate the emergence, development, and implications of activist identities as an important force for the movement's success.

METHODS

Within a qualitative design, data were collected from interviews with activists, observations of organizing events, movement documents, and media publications. Structured and open coding followed by qualitative analyses produced descriptions and explanations of the construction and use of identities in the movement.

RESULTS

Four major identities emerged in social and discursive interactions among activists and between activists and contextual forces: Victims, Bulgarians, Nature-protectors, and Citizens. The four identities were used interchangeably and afforded differential empowerment and opportunities for participation in policy-making.

CONCLUSION

The emerging activist identities were processes and products of the complex relationships between agency and context. The study contributes in illuminating the links between policy context, empowerment, participation, and political action.

Drivers Of Health As A Shared Value: Mindset, Expectations, Sense Of Community, And Civic Engagement

Making health a shared value is central to building a culture of health, a new action framework intended to spur faster progress toward equitable health outcomes in the United States. Unlike in other US social movements, such as the environmental and civil rights movements, the necessary understanding of shared values has not yet been achieved for health. Discussions about values regarding health have primarily focused on health care instead of health or well-being. These discussions have not progressed to a clear focus on prioritizing values on health instead of simply health care. The evidence base for understanding health as a shared value is only now emerging. Making health a shared value is the first of four Action Areas in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Action Framework. We assert that the achievement of this shared understanding of health as a cultural value will be enhanced through action in specific drivers: mindset and expectations, sense of community, and civic engagement. Building on a literature review and stakeholder engagement, this article examines the evidence base for these drivers and identifies where policy and research actions are needed to advance positive change on population health and well-being outcomes.

Organizing for Individuation: Alternative Organizing, Politics and New Identities

Organization theorists have predominantly studied identity and organizing within the managed work organization. This frames organization as a structure within which identity work occurs, often as a means of managerial control. In our paper our contribution is to develop the concept of individuation pursued through prefigurative practices within alternative organizing to reframe this relation. We combine recent scholarship on alternative organizations and new social movements to provide a theoretical grounding for an ethnographic study of the prefigurative organizing practices and related identity work of an alternative group in a UK city. We argue that in such groups, identity, organizing and politics become a purposeful set of integrated processes aimed at the creation of new forms of life in the here and now, thus organizing is politics is identity. Our study presents a number of challenges and possibilities to scholars of organization, enabling them to extend their understanding of organization and identity in the contemporary world.

The Vlaams Belang: The Rhetoric of Organizational Identity

In this paper we combine work on rhetorical strategies with that of organizational identity theory. We highlight the relationship between organizational identity and the deployment of discursive resources at the societal level by organizations seeking to influence such identities. We analyse the way in which an extreme right political organization, the Vlaams Belang, has used rhetorical framing and strategies to construct a collective identity. This framing is aimed at persuading potential supporters of the organization to identify themselves with it. We argue that these frames derive their characteristic form and power from broader social and political processes that are given insufficient attention in published work on identity in organizations. We discuss the implications of our study for organizational theory, particularly the political and ethical questions raised by the use of potentially manipulative strategies. We conclude with a discussion of the ethical problems that arise when an organization’s managers attempt to direct identity formation by exploiting a persistent desire for stability and continuity in a world where it becomes ever more elusive.

The emergent modes of dementia activism

After decades of silencing and discrimination, people with dementia are beginning to join forces, take action and campaign for social change. Drawing on data obtained from ‘activists’ with dementia using diary interview method and participant observation, this paper considers the emergent modes of dementia activism in the context of the social movement literature, and in particular, work emphasising the role of networks in health social movements. The study identified three emergent modes of dementia activism; these were the ‘protecting-self against decline’ mode, ‘(re) gaining respect’ mode, and ‘creating connections with other people with dementia’ mode. Taken together, these modes show how a sense of elapsing time pervades this form of activism. The investigation reinforces the contention that time is a dominated force that structures human motivation and goals. Furthermore, it raises the possibility that activism can protect against decline amongst people with dementia given the appropriate temporal space.

Creating cohesion from diversity: the challenge of collective identity formation in the global justice movement

Collective identity formation is important because it plays a crucial role in sustaining movements over time. Studying collective identity formation in autonomous groups in the Global Justice Movement poses a challenge because they encompass a multiplicity of identities, ideologies, issues, frames, collective action repertoires, and organizational forms. This article analyzes the process of collective identity formation in three anti-capitalist globalization groups in Madrid, Spain, based on 3 years of ethnographic fieldwork. The author argues that for new groups practicing participatory democracy the regular face-to-face assemblies are the crucial arena in which collective identity can form and must be both effective and participatory in order to foster a sense of commitment and belonging. The article raises the possibility that scholars should consider what seems to be an oxymoron: the possible benefits of "failure" for social movements.