Protest Violence and Intra-movement Solidarity: Evidence from Hong Kong

• In Event: Solidarity and Backlash Effects From Protests

Abstract

Success of social movements is often hampered by the weakening of intra-movement solidarity, and one factor that causes this is protest violence. While scholars have focused on how protest violence affects public support, scant attention is paid to the impact of protest violence on intra-movement dynamics. What are the conditions under which movement solidarity can be sustained despite protest violence? This article proposes a conceptual distinction between protesters’ public and private preferences, and argues that they can demonstrate “tolerant solidarity” by restraining themselves from publicly denouncing protest violence despite their privately negative evaluation. We conduct a survey experiment on participants of Hong Kong’s 2019 protests to investigate how their private and public preferences for violence are influenced by who is taking the initiative; whether the violence causes property or bodily harm; and whether the target is the police or counter-protesters. Results show that respondents are more likely to evaluate violence negatively if protesters take the initiative, inflict bodily harm and target non-police actors. However, the effects are less pronounced when it comes to whether they would support public denunciation, suggesting that their private preferences are partially concealed. Multivariate regression further corroborates this finding. Findings contribute to social movement studies by advancing a more nuanced understanding of intra-movement solidarity.

Author

• Brian Leung, University of Washington