Double-edged swords? Collective identity and solidarity in the environment movement1
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5609729 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Clare Saunders (0000-0003-4995-4967, University of Kent, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 227-253 |
| Publication date | 2008-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00191.x |
| PMID | 18498593 |
| OpenAlex | W2017010940 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 61 |
| References cited | 21 |
Perhaps by virtue of its theoretical slipperiness, collective identity is often hailed as an important feature of social movements for the role it plays in unifying activists and organizations, and so helping them to develop shared concerns and engage in collective action. However, this paper argues that collective identity is the result of group rather than movement level processes, and although it can unite activists within a single movement organization, it is not always beneficial for the broader social movement. Although movements consist of networks of activists and organizations that have a broad shared concern, differing collective identities within the movement can actually be quite divisive. Based on case studies of three organizations in the environmental movement, this paper shows that activists who are most committed to an organization with an encompassing collective identity develop a strong sense of solidarity with other activists similarly committed to that organization. The resultant solidarity leads to the construction of a 'we-them' dichotomy between organizations within the same movement, increasing the chances of hostility between organizations and factions within the movement
Aesthetics · Collective action · Collective identity · Formal organization · Hostility · Identity (music · Movement (music · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Social science · Sociology · Solidarity · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology
Retooling Politics
In Search of Solidarity
Multiple Players, Different Tactics, a Shared Goal
Working towards a green job
Probing the Implications of Facebook Use for the Organizational Form of Social Movement Organizations
Whistleblowing advocacy
A Model of Sustainable Living
Collective identities and formal ideologies in the Irish grassroots pro-asylum seeker movement
The Cement of Civil Society
Building a collective ecological identity
Understanding environmental and climate imagery
Constructing environmentalist identities through green neoliberal identity work
Young Climate Protesters’ Mobilization Availability
Shifting Grounds of Collaboration in Changing Contexts
Fragmentation or Evolution? Understanding Change Within the New Zealand Environmental Movement
The consumption power of the politically powerless
Performing identity online
Social control and trust in the New Zealand environmental movement
It's Not Just Structural
Lost in deliberative deficit
Persistent Anti-Littering Activism in a Non-Western Context
When Ignoring the News and Going Hiking Can Help You Save the World
Wanting a “Feminist Abortion Experience”
Drawing boundaries
The emergent modes of dementia activism
From victims to citizens
Far-right movement-party activism as strategy
Reconceptualizing the generation in a digital(izing) modernity
Unfolding Affective Atmospheres during the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis
Collective Identity and the Subjective Terrain of Political Opportunities
Beyond the Activist Ghetto
Linking Arenas
Beyond the Dreamers
Explaining Differential Protest Participation
Untangling the differential drivers of protest participation
Tolerant Solidarity With Violent Protesters
Solidarity in diversity
Tactics, traditions and opportunities
Beyond organizational ties
Gaining Access to the State
Open networks and secret Facebook groups
We are all refugees
We fight for all living things
Using Social Network Analysis and Framing to Assess Collective Identity in the Genetic Engineering Resistance Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand
Songwriting and Activism
Collective Identity in Social Movements
Strange Bedfellows or Trusted Comrades? Digital Solidarity Building among Myanmar's Revolutionaries
Friends of the Earth International
Science and ethics in the post-political era
Networking in environmental movement organisation coalitions
Penalty or Payoff? Diversity of Tactics and Resource Mobilization Among Environmental Organizations
Social Media, Environmental Activism and Implicit Religion
Tasmanian forests and their people
Unmaking a Movement
Defining, Aligning, and Negotiating Futures
Protests and Policies
Transnational Ties and Reciprocal Tenacity
Political icon and role model
Petrochemical Pollution and the Suppression of Environmental Protest
Creating Cohesion from Diversity
Light Environmentalists and Quiet Activism
Self, Identity, and Social Movements (Social Movements, Protest, and Contention, V. 13)
The Cultural Contexts of Collective Action
Sociological perspectives on social psychology
Principles of Group Solidarity
Cultura, Educação E Movimentos Sociais
The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements
The Politics Of Social Protest
Challenging Codes
The Art of Moral Protest
The Division of Labour in Society
Social Movement Continuity
Green Distinctions
The Concept of Social Movement
Decorative Sociology
Ideology and the Clamshell Identity
Ecological Rites
Collective Identity and Social Movements
Interorganizational Conflict in the Southern Civil Rights Movement
The Strength of Weak Ties
| Unique citing works | 61 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,59 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 61 |