The Role of Collective Identification in Social Movement Participation: A Panel Study in the Context of the German Gay Movement

Abstract

The authors conducted a panel study with two points of measurement throughout a 12-month interval in the context of the German gay movement to test the predictive power of collective identification in subsequent actual social movement participation. Regression analyses including cross-lagged panel analyses clearly confirmed the hypothesized unique predictive value of identification with a formal social movement organization above and beyond the role the collective, normative, and reward motives traditionally considered in social movement research. Of the three motives, the normative motive was particularly predictive. Moreover, data from an additional telephone follow-up (3 years after the initial measurement) suggests that when the conflict with political opponents becomes particularly fierce, identification with the broader recruitment category, which was previously ineffective as a unique predictor, can politicize to such an extent that it also becomes a strong predictor of participation.

Peer Support in Industrial Action: How Colleagues' Anticipated Social Support Affects Willingness to Strike*

“…Hypothesis 2 stating that higher expected support for participation increases a worker's willingness to participate was confirmed (standardized regression weight = .340, p < .01). This finding is in line with previous empirical research (Klandermans 1984;Klandermans and Oegema 1987;Stürmer and Simon 2004b) and indicates that when a worker expects support from colleagues should she choose to participate in a strike, she is more willing to participate in this strike. When workers expect support for not participating from their colleagues, their willingness to participate decreases (standardized estimate = -.071; p = .05), which confirms hypothesis 3.…”

“…Previous research on the effects of social support (Klandermans and Oegema 1987;Stürmer and Simon 2004b) finds that social support for participation increases the willingness to participate. Workers will assess whether their colleagues will support their decision to participate; it is this group of others with whom a worker will have to work on a daily basis that might attempt to influence the worker's decision to participate.…”

“…Recent theoretical frameworks distinguish three motives in this cost-benefit analysis (e.g., see Simon, Loewy, Stürmer, Weber, Freytag, Habig, Kampmeier, and Spahlinger 1998;Stürmer and Simon 2004a;van Zomeren Postmes, and Spears 2008). First, individuals have a collective motive, which refers to the collective gains the protest aims to achieve, such as a wage increase.…”

“…Klandermans 1984;Klandermans and Oegema 1987;Stürmer and Simon 2004b), some scholars acknowledge that social support for nonparticipation is likely to play a role as well (Klandermans 1984). Investigating the effect of a Dutch union's mobilization campaign on its members' willingness to participate in a strike, Klandermans (1984) analyzes the effect of the social support for participation as well as social support for nonparticipation.…”

Opinion‐based group membership as a predictor of commitment to political action

“…It is important to note that this finding was constant in both studies, despite the differences in the cultural contexts investigated. It is also worth noting that the identification measures used provided a higher level of predictive power for political behavioural compared to other studies on collective behavioural intentions (Simon et al, 2000;Stürmer et al, 2003;Stürmer & Simon, 2004).…”