Abstract
AbstractCollective identity is a key catalyst of protest mobilization. How does collective identity come into existence among strangers with diverse backgrounds, especially in movements without a centralized leadership? Although collective identity is often seen as something constructed by movement organizations or out of established networks, we describe a more bottom-up and decentralized process in which movement collective identity is created through the horizontal mobilization of intermediate identities, which leverage pre-existing social identifications to induce commitment among individuals. Focusing on Hong Kong's Anti-Extradition Bill Movement of 2019, we argue that online petitions against the controversial bill created intermediate group identities among myriad social groups, such as alumni, professions, hobby groups, and residential communities. These intermediate identities provided rich discursive resources for previously disconnected individuals to collectively perceive the threat of the bill and see the obligation to act, which, in turn, shaped a strong collective identity early on in the protests. Our findings may help contribute to a more nuanced understanding of collective identity formation in contemporary leaderless movements.
Highlights
In late May 2019, shortly before a protracted wave of protests that would pervade Hong Kong for the rest of the year, a silent mobilization gained momentum on the Internet
Collective identity is a crucial element in the formation of social movements
This paper has explained how collective identity comes into existence among people of diverse backgrounds in Hong Kong’s Anti-ELAB Movement through what we call intermediate group identities
Summary
In late May 2019, shortly before a protracted wave of protests that would pervade Hong Kong for the rest of the year, a silent mobilization gained momentum on the Internet. The online mobilization of various social groups made the scale of resistance visible before the protests erupted, and provided customized diagnostic and motivational frames for a diverse range of social groups to collectively perceive the threat and see the obligation to act urgently. This helps to explain why a strong collective identity could emerge shortly to precipitate the subsequent mass mobilization. By studying a movement where traditional organizations played a peripheral role, we show how citizen-initiated online petitions resulted in the horizontal mobilization of intermediate group identities, which, in turn, linked individuals to the emerging collective and formed the basis of solidarity. Rather than becoming obsolete in the digital era, social identifications provide variegated lenses through which threat can be perceived and transformed into an action-oriented collective identity that facilitates mobilization
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