Archive | 2019
The racial composition of students’ friendship networks predicts perceptions of injustice and involvement in collective action
Abstract
What motivates a person to participate in collective action in the interest of others? From the Civil Rights Movement’s fight for ra‐ cial and economic justice, to the Stonewall uprising that demanded an equal place in society for members of the LGBTQ+ community, to the Women’s March that advocated for human rights legislation, recent history is peppered with examples of how people from mar‐ ginalized groups stood together in the face of injustice to effect change. People’s social identities, and the discriminatory experi‐ ences thereof, were a potent catalyst for involvement in collective action. But as we look at historic photos taken on the days of these marches, listen to testimonials of protesters, and read stories about important friendships that contributed to such social movements, it is clear that not all those who participate in collective action are members of the targeted groups such action seeks to correct. Drawing together research from several social psychological perspectives on intergroup relations, the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA, van Zomeren et al., 2008) identified crit‐ ical factors that drive participation in collective action. Specifically, people who are members of a group facing individual and structural disadvantages (i.e., group identification) and those who are aware that such disadvantages exist relative to other groups (i.e., per‐ ceived injustice) are more likely to be involved in collective action.1 And, indeed, marginalized group members (e.g., racial/ethnic mi‐ nority individuals) are often at the heart of collective action, as seen in the aforementioned anecdotes and supported by empirical evidence. Yet, marginalized group members cannot, and should not, be expected to combat discrimination alone. People from