Tag: collective action
-
Instrumental & expressive aspects of collective action
A very basic breakdown: Instrumental We join with others to take collective action in order to achieve measurable goals. Our actions are tactics within strategies, which we hope will result in tangible successes/gains/improvements to people’s lives. We are concerned with results. We evaluate whether our actions are moving us toward making substantial change. Expressive! We…
-
Too many Leeroy Jenkins
Another intense semester has come to an end and suddenly I have some time to relax, to catch up with friends, and even to indulge in wasting a little time on the Internet. Just now I remembered old Leeroy Jenkins — the disruptive antihero of World of Warcraft — and I thought I’d watch the Youtube video…
-
A theory of political behavior (pt.4: imagined communities & populist alignment)
Modern society significantly complicates the group-oriented identity framework I’ve been discussing (in parts one, two, and three). Most of us juggle multiple roles in multiple spheres, each of which holds a degree of our individual identity. The temptation is to then look at identity as a predominantly individual matter. But each sphere of an individual’s…
-
A theory of political behavior (pt.3: political dimension of group identity)
Continuing from part 2… Values Where do values fit into this picture? Do I not construct my identity according to the values that I hold? This can certainly be the case, but those values are constructed by my identification and experiences with some group in the first place. As with identity, we may benefit by…
-
A theory of political behavior (pt.2: evolutionary logic of identity)
Picking up where I left off in part 1, the next axiom: identity serves an evolved, group-benefiting function. I am well aware that examining an evolutionary framework to explain behavior is something that not everyone is comfortable with. Indeed, it has provoked pushback from some of my cultural studies friends and advisors (but encouragement from…
-
A theory of political behavior (pt.1)
Why explore political behavior? To inform my own organizing practice, I have been working toward a more explicit theory of political behavior, which this post will begin to lay out. Leading up to this exploration, last week I discussed some of my philosophy of social science, mostly asserting my embrace of a multiply-determined reality with…
Jonathan Matthew Smucker 