Motivating Collective Action in Diverse Groups: Person of Color Identity,Prototypicality Perceptions,and Environmental Attitudes

Abstract

People of color (PoC) face common threats as marginalized ethno-racial groups, yet it remains unclear what drives a diverse range of people to collectively mobilize. Relative to White Americans, PoC are disproportionately endangered by environmental pollution. We suggest that when facing common threats, such as environmental injustice, making salient PoC-Identity (PoC-ID)—a superordinate category encompassing non-White groups—may motivate its members to collectively act. In a study with nationally representative samples of Black, Latinx, and Asian Americans (N = 1,866), we found that higher levels of PoC-ID predicted attitudes and behavioral intentions to confront environmental injustices, which were mediated by anger about environmental injustices and efficacy as PoC. Although PoC-ID consistently explained Black Americans’ attitudes and behavioral intentions, its influence among Latinx and Asian Americans was moderated by self-perceived prototypicality as PoC. We discuss how these findings advance understanding of the psychological mechanisms of coalition-building among marginalized groups.

Keywords

collective action people of color environmental attitudes social identity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anoll

A. P.

(2021). The obligation mosaic: Race and social norms in U.S. political participation. University of Chicago Press.

Bastian

Haslam

(2008). Immigration from the perspective of hosts and immigrants: Roles of psychological essentialism and social identity. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 11(2), 127–140.

Benjamin

(2017). Racial coalition building in local elections: Elite cues and cross-ethnic voting. Cambridge University Press.

Bollen

K. A.

(1989). A new incremental fit index for general structural equation models. Sociological Methods & Research, 17(3), 303–316.

Branscombe

N. R.

Ellemers

Spears

Doosje

(1999). The context and content of social identity threat. In Ellemers

Spears

Doosje

(Eds.), Social identity: Context, commitment, content (pp. 35–58). Blackwell Science.

Brewer

M. B.

, (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(5), 475–482.

Brown

T.A.

, (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. Guilford Press.

Chen

J. M.

Ratliff

K. A.

(2018). Psychological essentialism predicts intergroup bias. Social Cognition, 36(3), 301–323.

Cortland

C. I.

Craig

M. A.

Shapiro

J. R.

Richeson

J. A.

Neel

Goldstein

N. J.

(2017). Solidarity through shared disadvantage: Highlighting shared experiences of discrimination improves relations between stigmatized groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(4), 547–567.

10.

Craig

M. A.

DeHart

Richeson

J. A.

Fiedorowicz

(2012). Do unto others as others have done unto you? Perceiving sexism influences women’s evaluations of stigmatized racial groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(9), 1107–1119.

11.

Craig

M. A.

Richeson

J. A.

(2012). Coalition or derogation? How perceived discrimination influences intraminority intergroup relations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(4), 759–777.

12.

Craig

M. A.

Richeson

J. A.

(2016). Stigma-based solidarity: Understanding the psychological foundations of conflict and coalition among members of different stigmatized groups. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(1), 21–27.

13.

Danbold

Huo

Y. J.

(2021). Welcome to be like us: Expectations of outgroup assimilation shape dominant group resistance to diversity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211004806

14.

Dixon

Tropp

L. R.

Durrheim

Tredoux

(2010). “Let them eat harmony”: Prejudice-reduction strategies and attitudes of historically disadvantaged groups. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(2), 76–80.

15.

Dovidio

J. F.

Gaertner

S. L.

Saguy

(2009). Commonality and the complexity of “we”: Social attitudes and social change. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13(1), 3–20.

16.

Eidgahy

(2021). White without privilege: Examining MENA identity as people of color. Masters’ thesis. University of California.

17.

Ellemers

Jetten

, (2013). The many ways to be marginal in a group. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17(1), 3–21.

18.

Ellemers

Spears

Doosje

(2002). Self and social identity. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 161–186. https://doi.org/10.77/1088868312453086

19.

Fowler

J. H.

Kam

C. D.

(2007). Beyond the Self: Social identity, altruism, and political participation. The Journal of Politics, 69(3), 813–827.

20.

Fredrickson

G. M.

(1999). Models of American ethnic relations: A historical perspective. In Prentice

D. A.

Miller

D. T.

(Eds.), Cultural divides: Understanding and overcoming group conflict (pp. 23–34). Russell Sage Foundation.

21.

Gaertner

S. L.

Dovidio

J. F.

Nier

J. A.

Ward

C. M.

Banker

B. S.

, (1999). Across cultural divides: the value of a superordinate identity. Russell Sage Foundation.

22.

Huo

Y. J.

Molina

L. E.

(2006). Is pluralism a viable model of diversity? The benefits and limits of subgroup respect. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 9(3), 359–376. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430206064639

23.

Jost

J. T.

Hunyady

(2003). The psychology of system justification and the palliative function of ideology. European Review of Social Psychology, 13(1), 111–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463280240000046

24.

Kim

C. J.

(1999). The racial triangulation of Asian Americans. Politics & Society, 27(1), 105–138.

25.

Lazri

A. M.

Konisky

D. M.

(2019). Environmental attitudes across race and ethnicity. Social Science Quarterly, 100(4), 1039–1055. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12626

26.

Leach

C. W.

van Zomeren

Zebel

Vliek

M. L. W.

Pennekamp

S. F.

Doosje

Ouwerkerk

J. W.

Spears

(2008). Group-level self-definition and self-investment: A hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(1), 144–165.

27.

Masuoka

N. R.

Junn

(2013). The politics of belonging: Race, public opinion, and immigration. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo16095740.html

28.

McClain

P. D.

Lyle

M. L.

Carter

N. M.

DeFrancesco Soto

Lackey

G. F.

Davenport Cotton

Nunnally

S. C.

Scotto

T. J.

Grynaviski

J. D.

Kendrick

J. A.

(2007). Black Americans and Latino immigrants in a southern city: Friendly neighbors or economic competitors? Du Bois Review, 4, 97–117.

29.

McGurty

E. M.

(1997). From NIMBY to civil rights: The origins of the environmental justice movement. Environmental History, 2, 301–323.

30.

Mohai

Bryant

(1998). Is there a” race” effect on concern for environmental quality? Public Opinion Quarterly, 62, 475–505.

31.

Olson

(1965). The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Harvard University Press.

32.

Osborne

Jost

J. T.

Becker

J. C.

Badaan

Sibley

C. G.

(2019). Protesting to challenge or defend the system? A system justification perspective on collective action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(2), 244–269.

33.

Pérez

E. O.

(2021). Diversity’s child: People of color and the politics of identity. The University of Chicago Press.

34.

Riker

W. H.

Ordeshook

P. C.

(1968). A theory of the calculus of voting. American Political Science Review, 62(1), 25–42.

35.

Schmitt

M. T.

Branscombe

N. R.

(2001). The good, the bad, and the manly: Threats to one’s prototypicality and evaluations of fellow in-group members. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37(6), 510–517. https://doi:10.1006/jesp.2001.1476

36.

Sears

D. O.

Savalei

(2006). The political color line in America: Many “peoples of color” or Black exceptionalism? Political Psychology, 27(6), 895–924.

37.

Seger

C. R.

Smith

E. R.

Mackie

D. M.

(2009). Subtle activation of a social categorization triggers group-level emotions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(3), 460–467.

38.

Sidanius

Pratto

(1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge University Press.

39.

Song

Lewis

N. A.

Ballew

M. T.

Jr Bravo

Davydova

Gao

H. O.

Garcia

R. J.

Hiltner

Naiman

S. M.

Pearson

A. R.

Romero-Canyas

Schuldt

J. P

(2020). What counts as an “environmental” issue? Differences in issue conceptualization by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 68, 101404.

40.

Tang

(2011). A gulf unites us: The Vietnamese Americans of Black New Orleans East. American Quarterly, 63(1), 117–149.

41.

Tessum

C. W.

Apte

J. S.

Goodkind

A. L.

Muller

N. Z.

Mullins

K. A.

Paolella

D. A.

Polansky

Springer

N. P.

Thakrar

S. K.

Marshall

J. D.

Hill

J. D.

(2019). Inequity in consumption of goods and services adds to racial–ethnic disparities in air pollution exposure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(13), 6001–6006.

42.

Turner

J. C.

Hogg

M. A.

Oakes

P. J.

Reicher

S. D.

Wetherell

M. S.

(1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell.

43.

Turner

J. C.

Oakes

P. J.

Haslam

S. A.

McGarty

(1994). Self and collective: Cognition and social context. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(5), 454–463.

44.

United Church of Christ, Commission for Racial Justice. (1987). Toxic wastes and race: A national report on the socio-economic characteristics and communities with hazardous waste sites. https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1310/ML13109A339.pdf

45.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). 2019 American Community Survey Selected Population Profiles. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/data/data-tables.html

46.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2021). Climate change and social vulnerability in the United States: A focus on six impacts. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-09/climate-vulnerability_september-2021_508.pdf

47.

van Zomeren

Postmes

Spears

. (2008). Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 134(4), 504–535.

48.

van Zomeren

Spears

Fischer

A. H.

Leach

C. W

. (2004). Put your money where your mouth is! Explaining collective action tendencies through group-based anger and group efficacy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(5), 649–664.

49.

Waldzus

Mummendey

Wenzel

Weber

(2003). Towards tolerance: Representations of superordinate categories and perceived ingroup prototypicality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39(1), 31–47.

50.

Wilkinson

B. C.

(2015). Partners or rivals? Power and Latino, Black and White relations in the 21st century. University of Virginia Press.

51.

Wright

S. C.

Lubensky

M. E.

(2009). The struggle for social equality: Collective action versus prejudice reduction. In Demoulin

Leyens

Dovidio

J. F.

(Eds.), Intergroup misunderstandings: Impact of divergent social realities; intergroup misunderstandings: Impact of divergent social realities (pp. 291–310). Psychology Press.

52.

Zou

L. X.

Cheryan

(2017). Two axes of subordination: A new model of racial position. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112, 696–717. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000080

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.12 MB