We are the 1%, we stand with the 99%: reactions of high-status groups faced with social change attempts from low-status groups

Project Information

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Grant agreement ID: 701368

DOI

10.3030/701368

Project closed

EC signature date 15 April 2016

Start date 10 October 2016

End date 9 October 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 165 598,80

EU contribution

€ 165 598,80

Coordinated by

RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - collActionStatus (We are the 1%, we stand with the 99%: reactions of high-status groups faced with social change attempts from low-status groups)

Reporting period: 2016-10-10 to 2018-10-09

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

"This project addresses support for collective protest by disadvantaged groups among advantaged groups. This question is of the upmost importance to understand dynamics of social change towards more equal societies.

Collective protest represents specific challenges to the privileged by making strategies commonly employed to justify inequality difficult to use. For example, before the #MeToo movement it was more acceptable to state that “gender differences are a thing of the past”.

We propose a multi-level approach for the analysis of support for protest by the advantaged, including the ideological framework and the larger socio-structural context of protest (i.e. level of ad hoc security of advantage), the legitimacy of the type of protest itself and the level of group commitment of advantaged group members (i.e. level of identification with the advantaged ingroup).

Reactions of advantaged groups are extremely complex. Indeed, advantaged groups reactions are determined by motivations often pointing in opposite directions. For example, whereas the motivation to protect status and resources leads the advantaged to deny support for collective protest (in order to prevent it from gaining momentum), the motivation to “do the right thing” triggers increases in support.
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Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From October 2016 until October 2018, we conducted 16 experiments in four different countries (Portugal, Belgium, UK and USA). Participants were members of advantaged groups to whom we asked opinions about collective protest. The intergroup contexts varied from gender, to ethnic, to student program-related prestige and host societies vs. refugees. The type of protest (normative vs. non-normative) and its goals (resources vs. recognition of identity) were also systematically varied. This work resulted in the writing of four empirical papers and was presented in eight international conferences. In addition, it led to a research stay at Columbia University and the securing of two years of additional funding for the fellow to pursue research on this topic.

The debates and discussions with experts around this work led to the refinement of theory and methodology and the end result is a comprehensive multi-level model examining reactions to collective protest. This approach entails the simultaneous consideration of individual, context, system and ideological aspects when examining advantaged group members reactions to protest. In the case of this project we examined ingroup identification, type and goal of protest, stability of the system and diversity ideologies, respectively. However, this framework can easily be adapted to other variables such as permeability of the intergroup context or meritocratic ideologies.
This approach started to be incorporated in Master level classes on advanced topics in intergroup relations as a tool for an evidence-based analysis of societal unrest. Importantly, this approach is easily generalizable to other audiences’ reactions to protest and to advantaged groups’ support for inequality in general (i.e. beyond the context of protest; for example, in predicting political behavior). Given the interest of experts and the level of impact of the journal to which some these papers were (re)submitted, it is expected that the impact of the project in the international research community will soon be very visible and will allow us to have a solid and reliable base to continue the dissemination of results.


The important message from our results is that in order to understand the dynamics of societal change, and predict the development of social unrest, and to devise interventions for inequality reduction, it is crucial to consider how aspects linked to who perceives, what, in which larger (socio-economic and political) context. Failure to consider these aspects simultaneously can lead to misinterpretations and, consequently, to failures to develop effective interventions. A clear example of these phenomena is the opposite reactions to social unrest that we found among members who are highly vs. lowly committed to the identity of the advantaged group. Whereas threats to image and privilege strongly dictate support for inequality reduction among highly committed members, lowly committed members’ reactions are more strongly linked to empathy-based mechanisms implying taking the perspective of the disadvantaged. As a result, these two types of members react in opposite manners to the exact same situation.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Almost all theories on collective action focus on disadvantaged groups, and theories on advantaged groups focus on prejudice reduction among individuals rarely taking into account the collective dimension. This project has thus the potential of substantially increasing the knowledge on collective action consequences and, importantly, of complementing social identity theory, the most influential psychological theory on the intergroup relations domain. Indeed, this theory mainly predicts that individuals strive to attain or maintain a positive and distinct group identity as a way to reinforce self-esteem (if the groups I belong to have a good social standing then I, as an individual enjoy of that position as well). One of the criticisms one can make to this theory, as a theory about intergroup relations, is that it says very little about people in advantaged groups. By focusing on advantaged groups’ reactions to collective mobilisation among the disadvantaged we add to the literature and by introducing moderators at different levels of analyses (individual, context and socio-structural), we provide a comprehensive picture of the phenomenon.

Four empirical papers are either (re)submitted or in preparation and all target the top 10 journals in the field. Eight conference presentations have furthered dissemination of results. We are therefore confident that the project will have a substantial impact in moving beyond the state of the art. Given the broad contribution to the current literature on intergroup reactions of the results obtained in the project, we are also preparing a review of theory focusing on the revisiting of previous findings in light of our approach. This review paper will provide researchers and practitioners with a systematic guide for future directions in research and comprehensive analyses of reactions to societal unrest.


Finally, we are presently living in a period of substantial social, economic and political changes. These changes (or attempts at change) have been triggered more by groups of people striving for their rights (e.g. Arab Spring, Indignados, Occupy Wall Street or the events in Turkey and Greece) than by more “classical” political means. These events make visible the power struggles and intergroup conflicts that nowadays confront the world.
A better understanding of the consequences of these actions is crucial in order to reduce intergroup conflict but also to assure a true equality of opportunities, freedom and reduction (ideally, abolition) of illegitimate dominance by certain groups. Given that Europe has recently suffered from these types of conflicts and that it targets the ideals of solidarity, peace and equality between the different member states, the present project make an excellent contribution to the attainment of these goals by providing a multi-level analysis tool that is evidence-based.

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