IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v24y2012i1p73-105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Collective identity, rationality and collective political action

Author

Listed:
  • Karl-Dieter Opp

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of collective identity on protest behavior by applying an extended version of the theory of collective action. Hypotheses are derived about the following questions that are rarely addressed in the literature: Are there situations in which collective identity diminishes protest? The standard assumption is that collective identity increases protest behavior. Does collective identity have indirect effects – via the determinants of protest – on protest behavior? Are there feedback effects of protest participation on collective identity? The hypotheses that address these questions are tested with a three-wave panel study. Three findings are of particular interest: (1) the overall direct additive effects of identity on protest behavior are statistically not significant. (2) Evidence is provided that in solidary groups identity does not raise but reduce protest. (3) The major effects of identity are indirect: identity influences the determinants of protest.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl-Dieter Opp, 2012. "Collective identity, rationality and collective political action," Rationality and Society, , vol. 24(1), pages 73-105, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:24:y:2012:i:1:p:73-105
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463111434697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463111434697
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1043463111434697?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Opp, Karl-Dieter, 1986. "Soft Incentives and Collective Action: Participation in the Anti-Nuclear Movement," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 87-112, January.
    2. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    3. Eisinger, Peter K., 1973. "The Conditions of Protest Behavior in American Cities," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(1), pages 11-28, March.
    4. Muller, Edward N. & Opp, Karl-Dieter, 1986. "Rational Choice and Rebellious Collective Action," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(2), pages 471-487, June.
    5. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65, pages 135-135.
    6. Finkel, Steven E. & Muller, Edward N. & Opp, Karl-Dieter, 1989. "Personal Influence, Collective Rationality, and Mass Political Action," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 83(3), pages 885-903, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Armando Razo, 2020. "Social dilemmas with manifest and unknown networks," Rationality and Society, , vol. 32(1), pages 3-39, February.
    2. Guillaume Cheikbossian, 2021. "Group cooperation against a hegemon," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 33(1), pages 25-55, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karl-Dieter Opp, 1994. "Repression and Revolutionary Action," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(1), pages 101-138, January.
    2. Edward N. Muller & Erich Weede, 1994. "Theories of Rebellion," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(1), pages 40-57, January.
    3. Karl-Dieter Opp, 1991. "Processes of Collective Political Action," Rationality and Society, , vol. 3(2), pages 215-251, April.
    4. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    5. Francisco Pino, 2014. "Is There Gender Bias Among Voters ?Evidence from the Chilean Congressional Elections," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2014-53, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Leonardo Bursztyn & Michael Callen & Bruno Ferman & Saad Gulzar & Ali Hasanain & Noam Yuchtman, 2014. "Identifying Ideology: Experimental Evidence on Anti-Americanism in Pakistan," NBER Working Papers 20153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Hamlin, Alan & Jennings, Colin, 2001. "Group formation and competition: instrumental and expressive approaches," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0110, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    8. Anselm Hager & Johannes Hermle & Lukas Hensel & Christopher Roth, 2020. "Does Party Competition Affect Political Activism?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8431, CESifo.
    9. Leeson, Peter T., 2010. "Rational choice, Round Robin, and rebellion: An institutional solution to the problems of revolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 297-307, March.
    10. Apolte, Thomas & Müller, Julia, 2022. "The persistence of political myths and ideologies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Gilli, Mario & Giorgini, Filippo, 2022. "Citizens’ Protests: causes and consequences. A Research on Regime Change and Revolutionary Entrepreneurs by Bueno De Mesquita," FEEM Working Papers 324668, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    12. Hillman, Arye L., 2010. "Expressive behavior in economics and politics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 403-418, December.
    13. Grewenig, Elisabeth & Lergetporer, Philipp & Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2020. "Do party positions affect the public's policy preferences? Experimental evidence on support for family policies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 523-543.
    14. Mark I. Lichbach, 1994. "Rethinking Rationality and Rebellion," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(1), pages 8-39, January.
    15. Bonnier, Evelina & Poulsen, Jonas & Rogall, Thorsten & Stryjan, Miri, 2020. "Preparing for genocide: Quasi-experimental evidence from Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    16. Cheung, Man-Wah & Wu, Jiabin, 2018. "On the probabilistic transmission of continuous cultural traits," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 300-323.
    17. Joseph DiGrazia, 2014. "Individual Protest Participation in the United States: Conventional and Unconventional Activism," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(1), pages 111-131, March.
    18. Meya, Johannes & Poutvaara, Panu & Schwager, Robert, 2020. "Pocketbook voting, social preferences, and expressive motives in referenda," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 185-205.
    19. Chang, Alex Chuan-hsien, 2018. "How do Asian values constrain public support for redistribution?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 139-150.
    20. Michael Bayerlein & Vanessa A. Boese & Scott Gates & Katrin Kamin & Syed Mansoob Murshed, 2021. "Populism and COVID-19: How Populist Governments (Mis)Handle the Pandemic," Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy, now publishers, vol. 2(3), pages 389-428, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:24:y:2012:i:1:p:73-105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.