“Together we rise”: Collaboration and contestation as narrative drivers of the Women’s March

Abstract

The Women's March is arguably the most important counter-narrative to Trump's post-truth regime, but does it also present a leadership alternative to his populist and authoritarian style? And is this alternative necessarily better than currently dominant social formations? In this paper, we argue that the Women's March is partially configured by similar forces of affective circulation as those governing pro-Trump narratives, but that it is different and better in one important respect. The narratives of the Women's March are driven by both collaboration and contestation, meaning its circulation is both centripetal and centrifugal. We substantiate this claim through a close reading of the narration of the Women's March-from its inception until its first anniversary. Here, we focus particularly on the development from a moment of resistance to a political movement, arguing that this process offers a prototype for conceptualizing a new form of "rebel" or social movement leadership. Hence, the Women's March not only offers a different and better alternative to the leadership of Trump but also an opportunity for promoting and refining leadership theory in the post-heroic vein.

“A distant mirror”: Sensemaking in the era of Trump

“…(As of this writing, there are also some prominent Republicans who are also openly breaking ranks with the president in the face of the coming presidential election.) We attribute this failure in part to the force of inertia that contributes to the centrifugal force of his narrative (cf., Just and Muhr, 2019). To paraphrase Yeats, the center of his interventions—that is, the stated intention to bring the Republican Party back to its founding principles—did not hold but fell apart.…”

“…Here we propose that Flake is both heroic (going it alone, in the tradition of “great man”) and post-heroic (collectivist and harmony-centered) in his leadership. The manner of Flake’s interventions would largely seem to suggest a post-heroic way of leading: an anti-romantic stance (cf., Collinson et al, 2018) which “seeks [a] more collective understanding of ‘leadership, as distinct from power, [and] is most evident when […] all members of the group are on an equal footing,’ (Brown et al, 2015: 302)” (Just and Muhr, 2019: 248). Ideally, US senators are members of a group on equal footing, and it is clear from Flake’s speeches, writing, and actions, that this is the ideal.…”

An assemblage of avatars: Digital organization as affective intensification in the GamerGate controversy

“…Focusing on the interrelations of affordances and agencies in the assemblage of the GamerGate controversy reveals dynamics of affective intensification in which both pro- and anti-GamerGaters are equally implicated: first, each camp rallies around opposition to the other, forming allegiances based on a shared ‘Other’ rather than a common identity; second, their online mobilization has offline effects, adding injury to insult, as it were; third, each new contribution further intensifies the circulation, heightening the capacity to act of the assemblage as a whole beyond that of any individual contributor. These features are not unique to GamerGate, but have been observed in the rise of the alt-right (Nagle, 2017) as well as in efforts to resist it (Just and Muhr, 2019), indicating more general tendencies of how affective intensification works to constitute digital organization. In fact, the events of GamerGate have been linked directly to the rise of the alt-right and, by extension, the election of Donald Trump (Bezio, 2018; Lees, 2016; Massanari and Chess, 2018).…”

Moral Recovery and Ethical Leadership

“…When faced with decisions by leaders which did not prioritize public health and welfare, communities actively bonded together in order to protect themselves and implement initiatives which sought to heal the damage done by irresponsible leaders. Research on the possibility of Moral Recovery at a societal level may be possible through analyzing the extent of social movements which resist the rise of extremist political parties and institutional passivity toward racism, anti-migrant sentiment, sexism, and climate change denial (Foroughi et al 2019 ; Just and Muhr 2019 ). The response of organizations and leaders who have been disgraced or censured as a result of recent corporate scandals could be studied through the lens of Moral Recovery in order to deepen theoretical understandings of how the concept can be applied and understood in context.…”