Collective identity and social movements; Francesca Polletta and James M. Jasper

Pg 285 – “To avoid overextension of the concept, we have defined collective identity as an individual’s cognitive, moral, and emotional connection with a broader community, category, practice, or institution. It is a perception of a shared status or relation, which may be imagined rather than experienced directly, and it is distinct from personal identities, although it may form part of a personal identity. A collective identity may have been first constructed by outsiders (for example, as in the case of “Hispanics” in this country), who may still enforce it, but it depends on some acceptance by those to whom it is applied. Collective identities are expressed in cultural materials –names, narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals, clothing, and so on – but not all cultural materials express collective identities. Collective identity does not imply the rational calculus for evaluating choices that “interest” does. And unlike ideology, collective identity carries with it positive feelings for other members of the group” (Collective identity vs. culture)

~ Collective identity versus culture. Says that collective identity can be a culture, can be more than a culture, or can be less than a culture.

Pg 289 – “But as Fireman & Gamson (1979) and others have pointed out, individuals share prior bonds with others that make solidaristic behavior a reasonable expectation. “A person whose life is intertwined with the group [through friendship, kinship, organizational membership, informal support networks, or shared relations with outsiders]…has a big stake in the group’s fate. When collective action is urgent, the person is likely to contribute his or her share event if the impact of that share is not noticeable” (22).”

~ So the more one has invested into a group the more they are likely to stay if threatened because it makes up more of the global self and their self-conception and they find it easier to fight the threat than to change themselves to eliminate the threat. (Very important)

Pg 292 – “Many groups are torn between asserting a clear identity and deconstructing it, revealing it to be unstable, fluid, and constructed (J. Gamson, 1995; see also Epstein 1987, Seidman 1993, Phelan 1989, Fuss 1989). Where some members may see destabilizing a collective identity as an important goal in and of itself, with ramifications beyond the group, others may understandably see it as a threat to group unity or as confusing to the public…”

~ This is why some groups deconstruct and then reform. Because some want to change and some want to stay the same.

Pg 294 – Example of how personal identity provides framework for collective identity

Pg 296 – “First, changing identities is often a primary movement goal. This may be clearest in religious or self-help movements, but many movements have it as one goal alongside others. The development of group pride is a form of identity work. Identity talk within movements may be aimed not only at building solidarity but also at changing selves and relationships in ways that extend beyond the movement (Lichterman 1999, Breines 1989, Epstein 1991).”

~ Changing collective identity changes personal identity, and vice versa.

Pg 296 – “Mansbridge (1995), for instance, argues that being a feminist does not require membership in a feminist organization, but only sense of accountability to an ideal of feminism. Its behavioral requirements differ across social and historical contexts, but the core collective identity continues to shape an individual’s sense of self.”

~ This is one differentiation that is easier to explain collective identity versus culture. One can identify as a feminist and be in the collective identity of feminists without being in a feminist culture. They might live in a society of men, or around women who do not identify as feminists, but they still identify as a feminist, and others do, too. So, in essence they do not share with others their feminist ideas making a collective identity a non-social joining of ideas, and culture as a social joining of ideas.

Pg 298 – “Collective identities are in constant interplay with personal identities, but they are never simply the aggregate of individuals’ identities. If collective identity describes what makes people occupying a category similar, personal identity is the bundle of traits that we believes make us unique. Not is collective identity coextensive with culture; there are many cultural meanings that do not imply images of bounded groups. Collective identity is not the same as common ideological commitment. One can join a movement because one share its goals without identifying much with fellow members (one can even, in some cases, despise them). Likewise, people can develop collective identity on the basis of their distinctive know-how or skills, but such know-how and skills can have influence even in the absence of collective identities around them. Those skilled in explosives may favor bombing as a protest tactic, but this does not necessarily give them a shared collective identity. Movements contain, symbolize, and ritualize all kinds of people and attributes; only some of them are collective actors. Collective identities are one particular form of culture, although they may be built on other forms.”

~ Really good definition of collective identity, personal identity, and culture.