Barriers to Climate Activism: The Vital Role of Social Identification

Abstract

This article examines whether there is a collective climate action intention-behaviour gap amongst the British public, and the role of social identification in bridging the gap. Using a nationally representative survey (n=1100), we measured participant’s intentions to take collective climate action (such as volunteering, sharing climate change information with friends, protesting), and actual behavioural engagement with Extinction Rebellion (XR), a large-scale environmental movement. We also measured psychological factors based on the Social Identity Model of Pro-Environmental Action (SIMPEA) model, such as social identification, and socio-demographic characteristics. We found 50% of the participants were inclined abstainers, i.e., they expressed intentions to take collective climate action despite not having performed any actions with XR so far. Based on a moderated mediation model, we found that social identification predicted behavioural engagement with XR but did not moderate the collective climate action intention-behaviour gap. We discuss why this may be the case, including the role of public perceptions of how effective and disruptive XR's actions are.

Tell don’t ask: how to use social media to mobilise local collective climate action

“…In this study, we collaborated with a real-world grassroots movement to assess and improve ongoing strategies for collective climate engagement in a British sample using a large-scale natural field experiment on Facebook. We measured causal impacts on a revealed online information-seeking behaviour thereby extending past research which primarily considers self-reported collective climate action and intentions 10,[22][23][24][25][26][27]40 . However, we were unable to estimate how different ads influenced actual attendance at the talk.…”

“…To illustrate, the language used by XR activists (e.g. "opinionated", "argumentative"), social image and stereotypes (white middle class) and actions (disruptive public protest) can influence social identification 22,26,27 . There is, however, very little causal evidence on about how to overcome these psychological barriers to increase collective climate action by broadening local participation through communication strategies 28 , especially on social media.…”

“…Some include perceptions of lower personal and collective efficacy, social norms against protest and pro-environmental behaviour, and lower social identification 10,[20][21][22][23][24][25] . In the UK, recent studies have shown that lower social identification with climate movements and their activists are negatively associated with collective climate action intentions 22,26,27 . To illustrate, the language used by XR activists (e.g.…”

How environmental and social psychologists can engage with system-level processes

“…With the recent global rise in climate activism (Sisco et al, 2021), environmental psychology has adapted social psychological models to investigate the motivators of collective climate action, with a specific focus on climate activism (Cohen-Chen & Van Zomeren, 2018;Fritsche et al, 2018). This literature identifies various sources of social influence including prominent figures such as climate activist Greta Thunberg (Sabherwal, Ballew, et al, 2021), landmark events such as local and global climate protests (Swim et al, 2019), socially identifiable activism groups (Parkes et al, 2023), and close friends who are engaged in climate activism (Wallis & Loy, 2021). Research has also discovered more internal psychological drivers such as efficacy (Hamann & Reese, 2020), eco-emotions and personal norms and values (Voşki et al, 2023).…”

“…The results uncovered nuanced dimensions of climate activism that have been largely absent from previously validated measures. These included clicktivism (digital or online advocacy), civic activism (taking legally permitted actions), signalling (membership in the group), and radical activism (instances of disruptive actions) (Parkes et al, 2023). Our subsequent research is examining how to mobilize these varied actions in the local population.…”