Manufacturing Insurgency

• In Event: 20861 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: Right-wing and Conservative Movements

Abstract

The January 6th insurrection marked an unprecedented attack on American democratic institutions, driven by narratives contesting the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Unlike traditional extremist mobilization, however, many participants were everyday citizens with no prior history of activism. While extensive scholarship has dissected the ways through which media outlets, social media influencers, and political elites called into question the legitimacy of the election, questions remain as to why and how this discourse was able to mobilize such a substantial body of support amongst otherwise "everyday" Americans. Drawing on a unique database of 22,073 donations across six election-denial crowdfunding campaigns that preceded the insurrection, and 13,132 attached donor comments, we examine the emergent themes from justifications offered by bystanders for contributing to the movement. We argue that these donations functioned as a relatively low-cost yet symbolically meaningful form of participation, and that these justifications therefore offer insight into the types of narratives that resonated with the movement's base - narratives on which violent mobilization later occurred. Our preliminary findings reflect a blend of patriotic, religious, and conspiratorial themes, integrating familiar and fringe collective action frames, that together both legitimated and encouraged insurgent action toward overturning the election. This study sheds new light on the appeals of contemporary anti-democratic movements, alongside a broader theoretical problematization of collective action toward alternative yet regressive futures.

Authors

• Andrew W. Martin, The Ohio State University

• Vincent J. Roscigno, The Ohio State University

• Jack Gabriel Risien Wippell, The Ohio State University