Abstract Political social media activity is often understood to express preexisting political orientations, but during emerging adulthood it may also serve as a vehicle for political socialization and shifts in mobilization‐relevant attitudes. Across two studies, we tested whether political social media activity, especially engagement with labor‐movement content, was associated with activist intentions, political solidarity with workers, and anti‐worker bias. In Study 1, undergraduates ( N = 212) completed a 14‐day daily diary study. On days when participants reported engaging in a broader range of political action categories on social media and devoting a greater proportion of their social media activity to politics, they also reported stronger activist intentions. In Study 2, undergraduates ( N = 99) completed a 9‐day field intervention using anonymous Mastodon accounts to engage with curated labor‐focused organizing content. On intervention days, participants reported higher activist intentions and greater solidarity with workers than on non‐intervention days. From baseline to post‐intervention, participants also showed increased activist intentions and solidarity with workers and reduced implicit anti‐worker bias. Explicit class attitudes, class consciousness, and subjective vitality did not reliably change. Together, findings support a movement‐centered account in which digital political activity can help constitute, rather than merely express, orientations toward action and solidarity.
Abstract Some of the biggest challenges facing societies today relate to social problems, from increases in loneliness to growing polarization that undermines social cohesion across countries. Nevertheless, public policy often draws on an individualistic lens to address these societal problems. From a cross‐country comparison, we conclude that public policy implicitly follows neo‐liberal ideologies that see citizens as either autonomous and self‐reliant, or as fragile and in need of strong guidance. Previous researchers have called for a stronger focus on system change (S‐frame) in public policy, instead of seeking solutions by targeting individual behavior (I‐frame). Here, we emphasize the intermediate level speaking to how individuals connect to systems: highlighting how social groups impact health and wellbeing, social change, and can be a key determinant of societal resilience. We review research on the Social Identity Approach that has the potential to inform a group perspective (G‐frame) on public policy. First, we consider likely reasons why social groups have not received the attention they deserve in policy development. Second, we provide concrete examples to illustrate the added value of a group perspective. Third, we outline how policymakers can implement the G‐frame, to inform top‐down and bottom‐up approaches to social policy.
The singular they is commonly used in English as a form of gender-inclusive language. Despite its potential to contribute to gender equality, gender-inclusive language is often met with resistance, primarily from political conservatives. Arguments against the use of the singular they include rejection of language change and appeals to tradition. Such arguments fit with conservatives' nostalgic focus on the past. Thus, we investigate whether conservatives' support for the singular they can be increased by past-focused temporal framing that presents the singular they as consistent with the past and thereby appeals to conservatives' nostalgic focus on the past. In an online experiment, U.S. American participants (N = 377) indicated their endorsement of either a past-focused or a future-focused message promoting the singular they and their personal use of the singular they. Consistent with predictions, the more conservative participants were, the lower their endorsement and use of the singular they. However, the effect of political ideology on endorsement was attenuated by the past-focused compared to the future-focused message. Singular they use was not affected by temporal framing. Collective nostalgia was associated with conservatism but was not identified as an underlying mechanism of the temporal focus effect. The present findings suggest that past-focused temporal framing has the potential to increase conservatives' support for the singular they and, thereby, offer practical implications for policy.
Public discourse plays a crucial role in shaping the success of social movements. While research has explored public support for collective action, less attention has been paid to active opposition and delegitimization strategies. This study investigates the discursive contestation of climate protests by Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil in the United Kingdom in online spaces, through a qualitative content analysis of YouTube comments (N = 1516) posted under news videos from three data sampling rounds between 2021 and 2023, pertaining to roadblocks as well as art vandalism. We identify eight discursive tactics used to contest protest movements, including (1) Attribution of negative characteristics or traits to protesters; (2) Othering through attributing devalued social categories to protesters; (3) Questioning protesters' motives and commitment; (4) Reframing the cause as unimportant or the proposed solutions flawed; (5) Critiquing the morality of the protest action; (6) Undermining the efficacy and logic of protest action; (7) Conspiratorial accounts of protesters' agenda; and (8) Calls for punitive responses to protesters and protest action. We discuss how our discrete categories map onto existing theories of collective action contestation, and highlight the dynamic nature of such discourse, shaped by social context and broader ideological concerns. Our research underscores the significance of online discourse in obstructing social change and calls for further investigation into the real-world behavioral consequences of such narratives on public attitudes toward social movements. Analyzing oppositional comments on YouTube videos of UK climate protests, we find that people undermine activism in distinct ways, from attacking protesters' motives and character to questioning whether disruption actually achieves anything. Distinguishing between these gives activists and policymakers a clearer picture of public resistance to climate action, and of which objections can be productively answered.
The last decade of U.S. American political life has been described as "unprecedented times". For many in the U.S., watching governmental norms erode and favor a select few elites over the common people signals that we are in a time of democratic backsliding. However, for People of Color (POC) in the United States, a fascist government working against one's well-being is not novel. Thus, the goal of this work is to center POC perspectives and investigate factors associated with democratic attitudes among POC in the U.S. In Study 1, we examined a wide array of potential constructs pulled from a 2020 post-election survey. Overwhelmingly, beliefs about the shared nature of oppression emerged as a dominant predictor of democratic attitudes. In Study 2, we tested whether the relationship between beliefs about the shared nature of prejudice (e.g., Lay Theory of Generalized Prejudice; LTGP) and POC's support for democratic norms replicated with established measures. Our findings demonstrate that LTGP is associated with greater support for democracy and the view that democracy upholds racial equity; however, only linked fate was significantly associated with support for democratic norms. This work highlights the importance of generalized views of prejudice and oppression for understanding POC's endorsements of democratic values.
