Who wants to blow up a pipeline? Public demand for radical climate movement tactics

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12: Environmental Movements & Activism

Abstract

Forty years of climate activism have failed to motivate substantive political action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Inaction has spurred some in the climate movement to advocate for and engage in more radical tactics, including property destruction and violence. The apparent increase in radical tactics makes climate activism an exemplary case of a broader political phenomenon: the escalation of activist tactics from conventional (e.g., civil disobedience) to radical (e.g., violence). Using two novel surveys of the U.S. population, I find that approximately 20% of US adults at least occasionally support radical tactics, while approximately 7% are willing to join climate organizations engaged in those tactics. Levels of support increase significantly among specific subgroups, especially among those on the political left. I also find several factors that are associated with greater sympathy and willingness to participate, including experience with conventional climate activism, perceived risk, perceptions of institutional inaction, and age. The results of this study have two significant meanings. First, this study outlines a general process through which institutional inaction on collective risks (i.e., recreancy) influences the radicalization of political sentiment, acting as fuel for the rise of radical movement tactics. Second, these results suggest that public demand for radical climate activism is strong and likely to get stronger as risks increase, political inaction continues, and a younger cohort of concerned individuals grow weary of the failures of conventional climate activism.

Author

• Dylan Bugden, Washington State University