The Phenomenology of Protest Atmosphere: A Demonstrator Perspective

• In Event: 277 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Social Psychology and Movements

Abstract

Protest experiences can influence future collective action. By participating in a protest event, people may feel more related and empowered. These feelings have been found to induce positive emotions, which stimulate further action. In this paper, we study whether demonstrators’ perceptions of protest atmosphere add to this mobilizing effect. A recent study identified the impact of protest atmosphere on empowerment, but we don’t know whether this perception also feeds into future action. For this study we use survey data of two Dutch protest events that were staged early 2013 (N=352). Path analyses show that demonstrators’ atmosphere perceptions indirectly stimulate further action. The mobilizing effect of these perceptions depends on the event, i.e. the other experiences (sense of relatedness, empowerment and enjoyment) protest participants have.

Authors

• Anouk Van Leeuwen, Vrije Universiteit

• Jacquelien van Stekelenburg, Vrije Universiteit

• Bert Klandermans, Vrije Universiteit