Activism as a Career, Calling, and Way of Life
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2365397 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen Valocchi (Trinity College, Hartford, CT, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 169-200 |
| Publication date | 2013-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary Ethnography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0891-2416 • E-ISSN: 1552-5414 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0891241612467202 |
| OpenAlex | W1973317216 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
| References cited | 35 |
In this article, I use life histories of progressive activists to examine the class-inflected nature of activist identities. These life histories reveal three different conceptions of activist identity based primarily on the class origins of the narrators. Middle-class activists define their activism as a career, and their narratives depict a sequential and linear path to a new somewhat professionalized identity. Working-class activists conceive of their activism as a calling, and their narratives move backwards and forwards to an activism that links to and reinvents their working-class roots. Low-income activists make little distinction between their nonactivist and activist lives. They regard their activism as a way of life, and their related narratives combine episodes of collective action with stories of economic deprivation. Overall, this study demonstrates the utility of a more discursive understanding of identity talk, particularly for rethinking processes of recruitment to and participation in social movements
Action (physics · Aesthetics · Class (philosophy · Collective action · Epistemology · Identity (music · Linguistics · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · Working class · Gender Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks
Unpacking the Ordinary in the Extraordinary
Occupy in Ireland
Activists Forever
Coping and career choices
Teenage girls’ narratives of becoming activists
Intersectional Organizing and Educational Justice
The unbalanced theoretical toolkit
Narrating political participation
When Ignoring the News and Going Hiking Can Help You Save the World
Upper-Class Youth Activism
Early activism and work arrangements of young feminists in Mexico City
Various faces of activist identity
Communicative tensions of meaningful work
Turning Private Pain Into Public Action
Spillover Effects
The Activist Character
Occupy as a Free Space - Mobilization Processes and Outcomes
Activism Was a Survival Strategy
Called to Work
Patterns of engagement
Self, Identity, and Social Movements (Social Movements, Protest, and Contention, V. 13)
Feminist Generations
Between labor and capital
Fear of falling
Marxism and literature
Stories of Change
Beyond Structural Analysis
The Discovery of Grounded Theory
A Social Psychology of Protest
Respectably Queer
The Dignity of Working Men
The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements
The Search for Political Community
Asset and Liability? The Importance of Context in the Occupational Experiences of Upwardly Mobile White Adults
The organizational shaping of collective identity
The sociological imagination
"The Importance of being "We
Accounts
Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motive
Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation
Process and Protest
The Convert as a Social Type
The Class-Inflected Nature of Gay Identity
How Strong are Strong Ties? The Conditional Effectiveness of Strong Ties in Protest Recruitment Attempts
Identity Talk in the Peace and Justice Movement
Losing Neutrality in Your Everyday Life
Talk of Class
Identity Work Among the Homeless
| Unique citing works | 20 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,67 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 20 |