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The Role of Collective Identity in Inhibiting Mobilization: Solidarity and Suppression in Oak Ridge

Authors:
Thomas E. Shriver
Thomas E. Shriver
Thomas E. Shriver
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Sherry Cable at The University of Tennessee Medical Center at Knoxville
Sherry Cable
Lachelle Norris at Tennessee Technological University
Lachelle Norris
Donald W. Hastings
Donald W. Hastings
Donald W. Hastings
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
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Abstract

On the basis of documents and in-depth interviews with 80 residents of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, we analyzed the lack of collective mobilization against documented environmental problems. Collective identity is a central concept in new social movement theory and is seen as a major determinant of collective action. We borrowed the concept but examined the converse. Individual activism has consistently emerged in Oak Ridge without the development of the collective processes that mark mobilization. We examined the establishment of a special collective identity for the community in Oak Ridge, then analyzed the role of collective identity in the suppression of health grievances through heightened saliency, consciousness, and opposition to activism.
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... Studies of social movements, community responses, and community resilience (e.g., Shriver et al. 2000;Polletta and Jasper 2001;Mosimane et al. 2012;Messer et al. 2015;Leap and Thompson 2018;Thompson 2019, among others) have stressed the critical role of collective identity on the formation and/or process of collective agency, but little is still known about immigrant farmworkers in the U.S. This study contributes to these existing gaps in social sciences and food literature. ...
... Multiple studies of collective agency and collective mobilizations (e.g., Taylor and Whittier 1992;Shriver et al. 2000;Polletta and Jasper 2001;Mosimane et al. 2012;Leap and Thompson 2018; Thompson 2019, among others) have shown how some aspects of collective identity can influence the formation and evolution of collective efforts or responses. Collective identity can be defined as individuals' or groups' sense of belonging with a broader community that builds a sense of collectiveness and solidarity (Polletta and Jasper 2001;Leap and Thompson 2018). ...
... Jasper and McGarry 2015 acknowledge external and internal risks and advantages that collective identities may represent for the formation and processes of collective actions to address specific problems. Some studies have shown how collective identities rooted in specific interests and actors can contribute to or undermine collective agency or community responses (Shriver et al. 2000;Leap and Thompson 2018;Thompson 2019). Thus, as highlight, it is important to acknowledge the trade-off (benefits and challenges) or the dilemma that the formation and promotion of collective identities may represent for collective agency and its results over time. ...
Building and transforming collective agency and collective identity to address Latinx farmworkers’ needs and challenges in rural Vermont
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2021
  • AGR HUM VALUES
Immigrant farmworkers from Latin America experience multiple challenges in rural Vermont. A large body of literature has shown the benefits that collective agency can represent for migrant farmworkers in the U.S. food system. These initiatives have mainly focused on the improvement of human and labor conditions by empowering farmworkers. However, little is known about what factors influence the creation and progress of these types of collaborative efforts to address challenges faced by immigrant farmworkers in rural areas. By analyzing work completed by the non-governmental organization, Migrant Justice in Vermont, this article explores why and how collective agency was formed outside the state power to facilitate resources for Latinx farmworkers on dairy farms. Collaborative work led by this non-governmental organization has resulted in multiple efforts and achievements that address immigrant farmworkers’ needs and challenges. Results from this research unveil the complicated role of the state and how specific aspects of collective identity influenced the formation and progress of collective agency. This study aims to enrich the existing literature and/or ongoing initiatives on food movements, food justice, fair food programs, and immigration in the U.S.
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... In both cases, individuals and groups utilized collective identities grounded in their shared sense of being rural people who were disrespected and/or dispossessed by urban government officials in order to work across socially salient dimensions of difference to reorganize their communities in emergent manners amidst socio-ecological upheaval. Combined with others' findings that solidarity and collective identity can sometimes undercut collective efforts to challenge the industrial destruction of communities (e.g., Shriver et al. 2000;Bell and York 2010;Messer et al. 2015;Lewin 2017), our findings point to a complex, context contingent relationship between social heterogeneities, solidarities, and adaptations to emerging socio-ecological challenges. ...
... Research on the use of common-pool resources such as fisheries, for example, illustrates that communities are more likely to regulate the use of such resources in a sustainable manner in cases where individuals trust and feel a sense of obligation towards each other (Acheson 1988(Acheson , 1998Dietz et al. 2003;Bryan 2004). Collective identities can also enable individuals to work together in response to challenges by facilitating shared perceptions of problems, as well as solutions, to those problems (Shriver et al. 2000;Polletta and Jasper 2001;Bryan 2004;Hunt and Benford 2004). For example, activists successfully mobilized an anti-fracking campaign in Denton, Texas, at least partly because they successfully constructed a collective identity among townspeople that included attention to their shared exposures to fracking hazards (Auyero et al. 2017). ...
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... Collective identity plays a crucial role in environmental movements, fostering solidarity and collaboration among activists (Saunders 2008). Gendered collective identity can be a powerful tool for mobilization, as demonstrated by the South Bohemian Mothers' anti-nuclear activism in the Czech Republic (Adams and Shriver 2011;Shriver et al. 2000). The importance of collective identity is evident in activists' tendency to speak in terms of "we" rather than "I" (Valocchi 2009). ...
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AKADEMİSYEN İHRAÇLARI: Hak İhlalleri, Kayıplar ve Güçlenme Süreçleri (ACADEMIC PURGE IN TURKEY: Human Rights Violations, Losses, and Empowerment of Academics)
Book
Full-text available
  • Dec 2019
Giriş Bu araştırma, 20 Temmuz 2016’da Olağanüstü Hâl (OHAL) ilan edilmesiyle başlayan süreçte, Kanun Hükmünde Kararnameler (KHK) yoluyla üniversitelerden ihraç edilen akademisyenlerin uğradıkları hak ihlallerini, bu ihlallerin hukuksal, ekonomik, sosyal sonuçlarını ve sağlık etkilerini konu almaktadır. Araştırma öncelikle akademisyenlerin yaşa- dıkları hak ihlallerinin belirlenmesine odaklan- mıştır. Araştırma ekibi bu amaçla İnsan Hakları Evrensel Bildirisi (İHEB), Birleşmiş Milletler Medeni ve Siyasi Haklara İlişkin Uluslararası Sözleşme, Birleşmiş Milletler Ekonomik Sosyal ve Kültürel Haklara İlişkin Uluslararası Sözleşme ile Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi (AİHS) belgele- rini temel almıştır. Bu kapsamda, yaşama hakkı, kişi özgürlüğü ve güvenliğinin korunması, masu- miyet karinesinden yararlanma, özel hayatın gizli- liğinin korunması, çalışma hakkı, adil gelir hakkı, sosyal güvenlik hakkı, emeklilik hakkı, mülkiyet hakkı, eğitim hakkı, örgütlenme hakkı, gözaltı ve tutukluluk süreçlerinde ihraç edilen akademisyen- lerin ve yakınlarının deneyimlediği hak ihlallerini kapsayan bir çerçeve oluşturulmuştur. Araştırmanın ikinci kısmında hak ihlallerinin neden olduğu kayıplar belirlenmiştir ve ihlal ve kayıp döngüsünü anlamak için travma kavramı temel alınmıştır. Bu bağlamda politik şiddetin yol açtığı travmatik süreç, toplumsal travma, kolektif travma, kültürel travma, kompleks travma, süre- giden travma ile ilgili literatürden yararlanılarak kavramsallaştırılmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında ele alınan kayıplar ise ekonomik, akademik, sosyal alanlarda ve sağlık alanında yaşanan kayıplar olarak sınıflandırılmıştır. Üçüncü başlık ise ihraç edilen akademisyen- lerin hak ihlalleri, kayıplar ve bunların yol açtığı travmatik süreçle nasıl baş ettiklerinin belirlen- mesine ilişkindir. Bu bağlamda travmanın iyileş- mesinde kolektifin, zorluklar karşısında bir arada durma iradesinin rolünün ne olduğunun belirlen- mesi amaçlanmıştır. Ne tür kurumsal dayanışma ve destek pratiklerinin yaşama geçirildiğini; yeni sosyal ağların oluşmasının, sosyal ağların gelişme- sinin, sosyal çevrenin değişmesinin ihraç edilen akademisyenlerin dayanıklılıklarının oluşmasında ve aidiyet duygularının yeniden inşasındaki rolü- nün ne olduğunu saptamak önem kazanmıştır. İhraç edilen akademisyenlerin akademisyen olma iddiasını, akademisyen kimliğini kolektif olarak gerçekleştirme çabasını sürdürüp sürdürmedikle- ri değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırmacıların araştırma sürecinde yaptık- ları gözlemler, kendileriyle paylaşılan travmatik deneyimler, edindikleri izlenimler...
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Full-text available
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Social Psychological Expansions of Resource Mobilization Theory
Article
  • Jan 1997
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Article
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  • SOCIOL SPECTRUM
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