Extreme Protest Tactics Reduce Popular Support for Social Movements

The activist’s dilemma: Extreme protest actions reduce popular support for social movements.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ◽

10.1037/pspi0000230 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 119 (5) ◽

pp. 1086-1111 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Matthew Feinberg ◽

Robb Willer ◽

Chloe Kovacheff

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Popular Support

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‘If a fight starts, watch the crowd’: The effect of violence on popular support for social movements

Journal of Peace Research ◽

10.1177/0022343318820575 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 56 (4) ◽

pp. 485-498 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jordi Muñoz ◽

Eva Anduiza

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Causal Effect ◽

The Other ◽

Popular Support ◽

Face To Face ◽

Percentage Points ◽

Street Violence ◽

Wide Range ◽

Before And After ◽

The Impact

Social movements often face tactic diversification. In otherwise nonviolent movements, some groups or radical flanks may resort to violent actions such as street rioting. This article analyzes the impact that these violent episodes can have on popular support for the movement as a whole. To estimate the causal effect of violence, it exploits an unexpected riot outbreak that occurred during the fieldwork of a face-to-face survey in Barcelona in May 2016, led by a squat group linked to the anti-austerity movement known as the 15-M or indignados that emerged during the financial crisis. By comparing respondents interviewed before and after the riots, it finds that the street violence episode reduced support for the 15-M movement by 12 percentage points on average. However, the magnitude of the effect is highly conditional on the respondents’ predispositions towards the movement. Core supporters, that are expected to share the frame of the movement in justifying violent actions, are the least affected by the violent outbreak. On the other extreme, weak supporters, opposers, and non-aligned citizens reduce their support to a larger extent. Results are robust to different specifications and a wide range of robustness checks. These findings have potentially important implications for movements concerned with broadening their support base.

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Repression, Backfire, and The Theory of Transformative Events

Mobilization An International Quarterly ◽

10.17813/maiq.11.2.3204855020732v63 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 249-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 113

Author(s):

David Hess ◽

Brian Martin

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Case Studies ◽

Alternative Therapies ◽

East Timor ◽

International Support ◽

Popular Support ◽

Movement Mobilization ◽

The U.S

Repression sometimes can lead to greater movement mobilization: repressive events that are perceived as unjust have the potential to generate enormous public outrage against those seen as responsible. One result of repression-backfire-can contribute to the understanding of the conditions under which some repressive events may become transformative for social movements. Three case studies that highlight the processes involved in backfire are examined: the 1930 Salt March in India, in particular the beatings at Dharasana, that mobilized popular support for independence; the 1991 massacre in Dili, East Timor, which stimulated a massive expansion in international support for East Timorese independence; and the arrest of alternative cancer therapist John Richardson in 1972, which led to a huge growth in the U.S. movement for alternative therapies. The cases generate a preliminary understanding of the potential scope of backfire, the processes involved in backfire, and new hypotheses.

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