Creating cohesion from diversity: the challenge of collective identity formation in the global justice movement.
Collective identity formation is important because it plays a crucial role in sustaining movements over time. Studying collective identity formation in autonomous groups in the Global Justice Movement poses a challenge because they encompass a multiplicity of identities, ideologies, issues, frames, collective action repertoires, and organizational forms. This article analyzes the process of collective identity formation in three anti-capitalist globalization groups in Madrid, Spain, based on 3 years of ethnographic fieldwork. The author argues that for new groups practicing participatory democracy the regular face-to-face assemblies are the crucial arena in which collective identity can form and must be both effective and participatory in order to foster a sense of commitment and belonging. The article raises the possibility that scholars should consider what seems to be an oxymoron: the possible benefits of "failure" for social movements.
Fominaya
Cristina Flesher
CF
University of Aberdeen.
D018864:Cultural Diversity; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D038622:Internationality / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011639:Public Opinion / Q000266:history; D012922:Social Change / Q000266:history; D012933:Social Identification; D012935:Social Justice / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012937:Social Mobility / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012945:Social Values / Q000208:ethnology; D012952:Societies / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013030:Spain / Q000208:ethnology