The positive side of negative identity: Stigma and deviance in backlash movements

Abstract

Backlash movements often engage in extraordinary acts of deviance and taboo-breaking. Yet violating mainstream norms is costly, as it provokes public condemnation and stigma. Why do backlash movements transgress mainstream norms? In this essay, I argue that deviance and stigma are central elements of backlash politics and serve important functions for backlash movements. Building off insights from Sociology, I show how ‘secondary deviance’ is commonly embraced in groups that experience status deprivation. I apply these insights to backlash movements in order to illuminate why transgression is so often a part of their repertoire. Violating dominant norms – and provoking mainstream stigma and rebuke – advances the goals of backlash movements by allowing them to cultivate a distinct group identity, instil collective sentiments of status deprivation, and validate the movement’s political claims in popular discourse. In brief, backlash movements engage in certain behaviours not in spite of their deviant status, but because of this status.