Language and Identification: Activists' Discourses in Constructing Social Movements' Collective Identities"

• In Event: 578 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Paper Session. Movement Relevant Research

Abstract

Using a sample of letters written by ordinary citizens to Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) between 1960 and 1965, we propose a bottom-up, grassroots conceptualization of the concept of “collective identity.” We argue that conceptualizations of involvement in social movements have consistently been portrayed by sociologists as overly unified – whether the source of involvement has been thought of as material interests or non-rational sources of solidarity. Through an analysis of letters of support to King regarding his and the SCLC’s actions, we find that activists articulate a variety of reasons for involvement and indentifications with the organization that show ways in which the resulting collective identities are shared, partially shared, or particularized. In this paper, we focus particularly on the different constructions of collective identity by black and white activists.

Authors

• Gerald M. Platt, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

• Rhys H. Williams, Loyola University Chicago

• Eric R. Cheney, Central Washington University