Subcultural Identity Work in Social Movements: Barriers to Collective Identity Changes and Overcoming Them

Abstract

Over time, social movements must contend with a vast array of forces that can lead to changes in the movement's collective identity. As such changes may impact the alignment of movements and their membership, this study explores how changes are perceived by members and how they are interactively addressed. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered from two Native American social movement organizations, this study specifically asks why some changes suggested by movement members might be pursued and others are not. While movement members felt that there were a number of barriers to changes in their movements, the study revealed that it was the resonance of collective memories-presented during interactions as narrative commemorations-that encouraged the pursuit of suggested changes or the maintenance of a status quo.

“We Do This at Dancing Rabbit”: Recruitment and Collective Identity Processes in the Ecovillage

“…Collective identities are also barriers. They have been shown to hinder change within social movements due to such factors as collective memories (Gongaware 2012), to prevent people from joining movements due to such reasons as access and knowledge in internet communication platforms (Buyukozturk, Gaulden, and Dowd-Arrow 2018); the hyper-individualism of neoliberal ideology (Girerd and Bonnot 2020), or cultural capital (Lyson 2014). On the other hand, collective identities may require shared communal spaces to support a movement, such as concerts for the white power movement studied by Futrell and Simi (2004) or the National Women’s Music Festival supporting the radical lesbian feminist movement studied by Eder, Staggenborg, and Sudderth (1995).…”

Creolage. A Bottom-Up Approach to Cultural Change in Roman Times

“…Timothy Gongaware, for example, discusses the impact variations in membership can have on a 'group', for example by adding or eliminating networks and strategies; there is also the interaction with other groups that 'may influence … collective action frames' (Gongaware 2012: 7). Apart from the impact that the environment and globalisation may have on collective identities, we need to consider inner-group interactions, opportunities and constraints provided within a group (Melucci 1985), as well as emotions that may impact/constrain people's decision making; collective memory-or perceived collective memory-can be an important factor in sustaining the status quo or in stimulating change (Gongaware 2012). Across the Roman world, collective memory can be an important factor in motivating people's actions: do the conquered peoples forget their own collective memory (Woolf 1996)?…”

“Shifting the Power”: Youth Activists’ Narrative Reframing of the Immigrant Rights Movement

“…Storytelling enables activists to construct a shared history, align their experiences and identities, and sustain an oppositional consciousness (Polletta ). By controlling the narratives used to give meaning to and sustain a collective identity, activists can shore up group boundaries (Benford ; Gongaware ) and sort insiders from outsiders (McCorkel and Rodriquez ; Taylor and Nancy ).…”