Note on Nardini et al. (2021) – How Social Movements Succeed

Paper: “Together We Rise: How Social Movements Succeed,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31 (1), 112–45.

Main Topic or Phenomenon

This paper examines how social movements succeed in creating social change, with a specific focus on understanding the psychological processes that motivate people to transform from bystanders to “upstanders” - those who provide grassroots momentum for successful social movements. The authors use Black Lives Matter as their primary illustrative case.

Theoretical Construct

The paper builds on Crutchfield’s (2018) framework for 21st-century social movement success, adapting it through a consumer psychology lens. The core framework identifies five iterative practices:

1. Building Grassroots Momentum: Connecting people to the movement and to each other
2. Assembling Networked Movements: Creating collaborative structures across communities
3. Being Leaderful: Embracing hybrid leadership with multiple leaders sharing power
4. Expanding Networks: Building coalitions of internal and external organizations
5. Winning Hearts and Minds: Using emotions, narratives, and social sharing to create change

Key theoretical constructs include:

• Upstanders: People who take action to support social justice causes (vs. bystanders who remain passive)
• Collective Identity: Shared sense of belonging and purpose among movement members
• Leaderful Leadership: Hybrid leadership model with multiple leaders empowering others rather than top-down hierarchy

Key Findings

1. Transformation Process: People move from bystanders to upstanders through connecting their individual identity to collective identity, which enhances well-being and motivation for action.

2. Network Effects: Strong and weak ties both play important roles - strong ties provide emotional support and trust, while weak ties help spread information to distant clusters.

3. Incremental Progress: Small, localized wins build momentum and shift social norms more effectively than pursuing only large-scale changes.

4. Emotional Catalysts: Multiple emotions (anger, frustration, hope, empathy) can motivate participation, with context determining which emotions are most effective.

5. Storytelling Power: Personal narratives with lived experience create empathy and transport listeners, making them more likely to become upstanders.

Boundary Conditions and Moderators

1. Contextual Factors: The COVID-19 pandemic created unique conditions (time, heightened emotions, vulnerability) that amplified Black Lives Matter’s success in 2020.

2. Psychological Distance: People are more likely to act when they feel psychologically close to the issue or affected group.

3. Perceived Efficacy: Action is more likely when people believe their efforts can create meaningful change.

4. Social Support: Bystanders are more likely to become upstanders when they feel supported by others who share their values.

5. System Justification: When the status quo is perceived as just, anger may not effectively motivate action.

Building on Previous Work

The paper extends existing social movement theory by:

• Integrating consumer psychology insights into traditional political science and sociology frameworks
• Focusing on individual psychological processes rather than macro-level factors
• Bridging micro (individual) and macro (societal) processes
• Providing empirical grounding through the Black Lives Matter case study
• Emphasizing the role of grassroots organizing over traditional leader-led models

Major Theoretical Contribution

The paper’s primary contribution is demonstrating how consumer psychology mechanisms (identity, social influence, emotional processing, narrative persuasion) explain social movement success. It provides a psychological foundation for understanding collective action, moving beyond structural explanations to examine individual motivations and decision-making processes that aggregate into social change.

Major Managerial Implications

1. Corporate Social Responsibility: Companies should consider authentic engagement with social movements, as consumers with emotional brand connections respond positively to aligned social stances.

2. Funding Strategy: Organizations should invest in grassroots initiatives and provide ongoing operational support rather than one-time grants.

3. Communication Strategy: Use personal narratives and emotional connections rather than purely rational appeals.

4. Network Building: Invest in relationship-building and collaboration across diverse stakeholders.

5. Incremental Approach: Pursue small, achievable wins that build momentum toward larger goals.

Unexplored Theoretical Factors

1. Individual Difference Variables: Personality traits (e.g., need for uniqueness, regulatory focus, moral foundations) that might predict upstander behavior.

2. Cultural Moderators: How cultural values (individualism/collectivism, power distance) influence movement participation across different societies.

3. Digital vs. Physical Engagement: Whether online activism leads to different psychological outcomes than in-person participation.

4. Temporal Dynamics: How the timing of exposure to movement messages affects conversion from bystander to upstander.

5. Resource Constraints: How personal resources (time, money, social capital) moderate the relationship between motivation and action.

6. Competing Identities: How multiple, potentially conflicting identities (professional, family, political) influence movement participation.

7. Message Framing Effects: Whether gain-framed vs. loss-framed appeals work differently across movement stages or audience segments.

8. Social Proof Mechanisms: How different types of social proof (descriptive vs. injunctive norms) influence movement participation.

9. Backlash Effects: Psychological mechanisms that lead to counter-movement formation or resistance.

10. Sustainability Factors: What psychological factors predict long-term commitment vs. short-term participation in social movements.

Reference

Nardini, Gia, Tracy Rank-Christman, Melissa G. Bublitz, Samantha N. N. Cross, and Laura A. Peracchio (2021), “Together We Rise: How Social Movements Succeed,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31 (1), 112–45.