'Not a party to this crime': The reciprocal constitution of identity and morality by signatories of the Academics for Peace petition in Turkey.

In this paper, we examine how social identity, moral obligation and the relationship between the two shaped support for the 2016 Academics for Peace petition in Turkey. We examine the pre-trial statements of nine defendants charged for signing the petition and appearing in court on the same day in December 2018. We first conduct an inductive thematic analysis on one statement, and then, using the themes from this analysis, we conducted a deductive thematic analysis on the remaining eight statements. In line with the existing studies, we find considerable evidence that social identity and moral obligation are invoked as key reasons for signing in this highly repressive context. However, rather than these being separate factors, the two are reciprocally constitutive. That is, social identities define moral obligations and, at the same time, enacting moral obligations defines identity (both the position of the individual in the group and the nature of the group in the world). In discussion, we consider the broader implications of a moralized view of social identities for our understanding of both collective action and social identity processes more generally.

Multi-level gains of fat activism and their impact on sustained activism for fat justice.

Previous research has indicated that outcomes of collective action can occur at the individual, group, and societal levels. Taken together, we argue that multi-level outcomes can influence sustained involvement in social movements. We aimed to examine the multi-level outcomes of fat activism across two studies. In our first study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with fat activists (N = 20) to learn what they believe are the multi-level outcomes of fat activism. At the individual level, activists reported greater health, well-being, and self-esteem; at the group level, they reported a sense of community and increased clothing options; and at the societal level, they reported change in toxic cultures around dieting. By building on the findings of Study 1, Study 2 (N = 464) aimed to understand how fat individuals' past collective action participation may predict their future collective action participation through individual-, group-, and societal-level gains. Results indicate that greater collective action participation in the past predicts greater willingness to engage in collective action through the pathway of higher beliefs in individual and societal gains of fat activism, but not through group-level gains, even after we control for identification with fat and fat activist identities. We discuss these findings in relation to the importance of multi-level outcomes in collective action and sustained involvement in social movements.

When and why does political trust predict well-being in authoritarian contexts? Examining the role of political efficacy and collective action among opposition voters.

Previous research indicates that trust in the political system increases well-being. Drawing from prior collective action research, we posit that a) the relationship between political trust and well-being would be mediated by collective action participation (mediation hypothesis) and b) political efficacy would moderate the indirect effect of political trust on well-being through collective action participation (moderated mediation hypothesis). In two studies (N = 704), we tested these relationships among opposition voters in Turkey before two highly contested elections. The findings of Study 1 showed a significant indirect effect of political trust on well-being through collective action participation and supported our mediation hypothesis. However, unlike democratic contexts, the relationship between collective action and well-being was negative. In addition, we did not find support for our moderated mediation hypothesis. In Study 2, we used more nuanced measures of political efficacy (voting efficacy and online/offline protest efficacy) and collective action (both offline and online collective action). In addition to replicating the findings of Study 1 with respect to the mediatory role of collective action participation (but only for online collective action participation), Study 2 again did not support our moderated mediation hypotheses with respect to the four moderators. Results highlight the importance of online and offline collective action among ideologically marginalized people with low trust in the political system in maintaining well-being.

Resistance in repressive contexts: A comprehensive test of psychological predictors.

Empirical research on the social psychological antecedents of collective action has been conducted almost exclusively in democratic societies, where activism is relatively safe. The present research examines the psychological predictors of collective action intentions in contexts where resistance is met with significant repression by the authorities. Combining recent advancements in the collective action literature, our model examines the unique predictive roles of emotion (anger and fear), political identity consolidation and participative efficacies, politicized identification, and moral obligation, over and above past participation. It further investigates how these variables are shaped by perceptions of risks attributable to repression. Four survey studies test this model among protesters in Russia (N = 305), Ukraine (N = 136), Hong Kong (N = 115), and Turkey (N = 296). Meta-analytic integration of the findings highlights that, unlike in most current accounts of collective action, protesters in these contexts are not primarily driven by political efficacy. Rather, their involvement is contingent upon beliefs in the ability of protest to build a movement (identity consolidation and participative efficacies) and motivated by outrage at state repression, identification with the social movement, and a sense of moral obligation to act on their behalf. Results also confirm that risks attributable to state repression spur rather than quell resistance by increasing outrage, politicized identification, identity consolidation and participative efficacies, and moral obligation. The implications of these findings for models of collective action and our understanding of the motives underlying engagement in repressive contexts are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

'Names will never hurt us': A qualitative exploration of çapulcu identity through the eyes of Gezi Park protesters.

While there is a wealth of literature on how and why people engage in collective action, there has been comparably less focus on the way identities that have emerged (as compared to how they are consolidated or politicized) through crowd action are understood and explained by those who carry those identities, as well as the particular importance of norm formation and adherence in this process. The Gezi Park protests in Turkey allowed studying exactly how a newly created identity - çapulcu identity [Turkish for looters] - can be perceived by the protesters. The present study utilizes a qualitative approach to explore how the çapulcu identity was understood by people who participated in the Gezi Park protests, as well as the norms and prototypes associated with that identity. More specifically, we investigated perceptions of (1) the defining characteristics of a new identity (i.e., meaning of çapulcu), (2) prototypicality (i.e., typical çapulcu), (3) expectations of çapulcu behaviour in terms of social norms, and (4) out-group definitions (i.e., differentiating a çapulcu from a non-çapulcu). We used a survey with open-ended questions to explore çapulcu identity and analysed the data from 196 participants using qualitative content analysis. Results highlighted the important defining characteristics of çapulcu identity, how this identity is positioned in relation to the newly created out-group (i.e., government supporters), and social norms based on this newly created identity. We discuss the meanings of identity characteristics and social norms in the political context of Turkey in relation to existing collective action models, as well as why we need to examine identities that come about during protests qualitatively.