Construction and Modes of Expression of Differences in Collective Action

Abstract

In sociology, the identity defines in-groups as groups values, with which the individual identifies and out-groups are groups to which it opposes. In the social movements’ scholarship, the "we" refers to the group or the community perceived as unfairly treated, and "them" to the authority or the institution responsible for this injustice (Taylor, Whittier 1992). Since, the 1960s, social movements scholars have established the central role of identity in the the mobilisation process of social groups that are confronted to a strong stigma. By reviewing the way identity has been mobilised in the analysis of social movements, this panel aims at understanding what holds a movement together, the links that it may create, and the solidarities that can emerge in it. However, other authors have discussed the concept of identity because it refers to a variety of processes that can involve unequal relations and forms of prioritisation and social categorisations. Among others, the notion of identification contributes to shed light on this process. It focuses on the "categories of practice". The identity claimed in collective mobilisations is therefore a result of a double summon – the « top-down » injunction formulated by public authoritie as well as the « bottom-up » reappropriation and injunctions by the various groups themselves and thus tends to alleviate forms of inequality and categories of otherness. If the insistence on a particular identity is a positive tool for the development of collective action, a question then arises: how do mobilisations run and shape these processes of differentiation and identification? This panel thus aims at a better understanding of the way gender, class, race and ethnicity are both constructed and used by mobilised groups and individuals.

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