Activism and awareness

There are a great number of outcomes for activism that are examined in the literature, but we know relatively little about how this behavior influences perceptions of the phenomena being challenged. It is possible that when one challenges some phenomenon, one begins to ‘see’ it more. Alternatively, activism might focus awareness on only certain manifestations of the problem of interest. The type of activism should matter here. We anticipate that only forms of resistance that increase exposure to oppression/oppressors and/or other challengers are likely to increase the number of discriminatory actions identified. Especially important here is nonviolent direct action because of the significant amount of training and interaction among activists that is facilitated by such activities as well as the extensive amount of exposure that nonviolence generally subjects participants to. Utilizing a unique database of 98,316 untouchables (or Dalits) from 1,589 rural villages in Gujarat, India, we find support for our argument. Specifically, Dalits who engaged in nonviolent action which increased either exposure to oppression/oppressors or exposure to other activists but not both, identified a higher number of discriminatory events. In short, some activism does activate some awareness. This has implications for dissident commitment, radicalization, and post-conflict political processes.