Aspirations for national belonging and support for collective action among marginalized groups

Abstract

Across the globe, ethnic minorities experience discrimination and exclusion in contexts of rising majoritarianism. Yet many minorities suffer in silence, fearing that asserting ethnic identity and participating in protest will challenge their commitment to the nation in the eyes of broader society. In this article, I theorize that collective action frames that draw on national symbols and portray ethnic grievances as pertaining to the nation, more broadly, can strengthen support for protest among ethnic minorities. I test this theory through two original survey experiments with a sample of Indian Muslims (N = 1311) in the context of rising Hindu nationalism. The findings reveal that “national identity frames” strengthen support for ethnic resistance while “ethnic identity frames” weaken support under exclusionary nationalism. The findings suggest that minorities are more supportive of protest movements that employ collective action frames depicting ethnic resistance as an act of patriotism.