Sociopolitical Action Research Articles

“No Gree for Anybody!”- “Without our compliance, their power means nothing”: unveiling the subtleness in Nigeria’s socio-political activism

ABSTRACT This study employs online archival and interview methods to understand how people on X (formerly Twitter) interpret and construct the ‘No Gree for Anybody’ tweets as a form of digital protest. ‘No Gree for Anybody,’ translating to ‘Do not compromise for anyone’ in Nigerian Pidgin English, became a sort of national anthem on social media, especially on Twitter, amid the socioeconomic challenges in Nigeria. The adoption of this slogan, despite concerns from the Nigerian Police, underscores its influential role as an alternative protest form advocating systemic reform and confronting entrenched power structures. The qualitative data analysis constructed four key themes: Language and Identity, Digital Protest/Mobilization and Collective Identity, Multiple Symbolism of Defiance, and Protests Continuum in Nigeria’s socio-political landscape. These themes provide a nuanced understanding of ‘No Gree for Anybody’ and how its subtleness and non-episodic features shape digital activism and socio-political discourse in Nigeria, highlighting its position in contemporary protest dynamics.

CROSSING THE LINE: Nationalist Gentrification and Settler Expansion in Israel's ‘Mixed Cities’

AbstractIn this article we point to the intersection between political settlement movements, religion and economic gentrification by identifying a new type of gentrifier who has settled in Israel's mixed cities: the nationalist gentrifier. Against the background of Israel's disengagement from Gaza in 2005, experienced as a deep crisis in the Zionist‐religious settlement movement, new urban sites of spatial and sociopolitical action emerged. On the basis of interviews, residential participant observation and document analysis, we detail the geographical and sociological context in which nationalist gentrifiers operate in the mixed city of Jaffa and their perceptions and motivations for settlement. Drawing on recent gentrification literature, we show how these actors strategically activate the profiles of the ‘conqueror gentrifier’, the ‘colonizing gentrifier’ and the ‘competitor gentrifier’ vis‐à‐vis different local communities. The new nationalist gentrifiers are distinguished from both the secular liberal gentrifiers and the religious settler movement beyond the Green Line. This sociological hybrid configuration reflects processes of privatization and commodification of space as well as trends of nationalist radicalization prevalent in contemporary Jewish society in Israel. It should also prompt scholars to critically examine both the ethnonational and economic drivers of expansion projects in contested urban spaces.

Youth Climate Questions

AbstractAnthropogenic climate change and environmental crises are pressing challenges of our time, with changes to the climate system observed in every global region. Disastrous impacts on nature, including people, have already been observed in the form of drought, floods and extreme heat events across the planet. This study examines the role of an interdisciplinary approach to exploring different responses to climate-related disasters and potential disasters. The work we report takes place in the context of recent research on dialogue on climate interventions with youth. Climate interventions are large-scale interventions into the Earth’s climate system and include proposals such as solar radiation management, ocean liming, and carbon capture and storage technologies. Research and development of climate interventions as a response to one set of disasters (in the present and in-the-making), created as a result of anthropogenic climate change, are associated with much uncertainty and controversy. We explored these uncertainties and controversies with young people, scientists and policymakers, resulting in a set of illustrated climate conversation cards. In this paper, we analyse the questions produced by young people to find requests for data and knowledge from across disciplines, and for an exploration of ethics, feelings, positions and priorities. We also found problematisations of technofixes and desire for socio-political action. The implications for science and disaster education are discussed.

Representation of Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed as a Metaphor for Defiance

Contemporary writers are using literary platforms to voice socio-political concerns. Women writers are fast emerging as the strongest section of civil society. Women writers, just like their male counterparts, question institutional abuse of political latitude by persons in positions of authority. At the same time, these women writers create feedback loops that have the potential to redirect and reshape strategies of governance and administration. These women writers develop women characters that exhibit a peculiarly courageous or risky act of resistance. They defy authoritarian political leadership and stand for what they believe in, yet their works remain largely unexplored. It is in this context that this study examines the depiction of Wangari Maathai's Unbowed as a metaphor for defiance against oppressive socio-political systems. The analysis of this autobiographical text is anchored on Marxist and post-colonial literary theories, as advanced by Tyson (2002) and Spivak (2010), respectively. By unearthing defiant modes of protest, the heterogeneity of resistance is affirmed, and a new domain where art encounters the political is revealed. Maathai’s Unbowed defies conventional literary traditions, steps over the boundary into the domain of socio-political activism and uses her life stories to demonstrate that the subaltern – women’s voices that erstwhile muffled – can now speak and meaningfully contribute to clamour for social justice. The outcomes of this study serve as a key reference point for literary scholarship on social equality, governance and political dissidence.

It’s time to speak up! investor reaction to CEO sociopolitical activism

In this study, we explore how investors react to incidents of CEO sociopolitical activism. Drawing from the business case logic and political psychology literature, we theorize that the perceived relevance and ideology of CEO comments, as well as the institutional context in which they were made determine investor reactions. Our analysis of 379 CEO comments made between 2007–2020 indicates that investors react positively to CEOs’ political comments and negatively to sociocultural ones. Specifically, political comments are received favorably by investors if they are conservative-leaning, and this is especially true when made by CEOs of firms with greater government dependence or those operating in highly regulated industries. Conversely, investors react negatively to social comments made by CEOs of highly regulated firms. Overall, this study addresses recent calls for research on the expanding role of executives by highlighting the complex reactions CEO sociopolitical activism engenders among capital market stakeholders.

Islam Nusantara vs Progressive Islam: Dynamics and Transformation in the Modern Context of Indonesia

This journal explores the comparative dynamics and transformative processes of Islam Nusantara and Progressive Islam within the modern Indonesian context. Islam Nusantara, rooted in local traditions and cultural syncretism, emphasizes moderation, tolerance, and integration with indigenous practices. In contrast, Progressive Islam focuses on rationalism, reform, and socio-political activism, drawing from contemporary interpretations of Islamic teachings. This study examines the historical evolution, theological foundations, and socio-political implications of both movements, highlighting their respective responses to global challenges and local contexts. By analyzing primary sources, field studies, and interviews with key figures, this research elucidates the complexities and intersections between these two paradigms. The findings reveal how Islam Nusantara and Progressive Islam shape Indonesian Muslim identity, influence public discourse, and contribute to the broader narrative of Islamic thought in the 21st century. This study provides a nuanced understanding of the ongoing negotiation between tradition and modernity in Indonesian Islam, offering insights into the future trajectories of these influential movements.

The Executive Bully Pulpit: Drivers of CEO Sociopolitical Activism in the Wake of Social Movements

The Executive Bully Pulpit: Drivers of CEO Sociopolitical Activism in the Wake of Social Movements

Taking a Stand While Abroad? Towards a Theory of MNCs’ Sociopolitical Activism in Host Countries

Taking a Stand While Abroad? Towards a Theory of MNCs’ Sociopolitical Activism in Host Countries

Contradictory Corporate Sociopolitical Activism and Stakeholders’ Evaluations of Legitimacy

Contradictory Corporate Sociopolitical Activism and Stakeholders’ Evaluations of Legitimacy

Strategies of Sociopolitical Activism Inside the Firm

Strategies of Sociopolitical Activism Inside the Firm

Taking a Stand: Examining the Link Between Corporate Sociopolitical Activism and Venture Growth

Taking a Stand: Examining the Link Between Corporate Sociopolitical Activism and Venture Growth

Talk Left, Walk Right: How Firms Respond to The Political Risk of Sociopolitical Activism

Talk Left, Walk Right: How Firms Respond to The Political Risk of Sociopolitical Activism

Courageous Role Model or Threatening Villain: A Parallel Mediation Model of Corporate Activism and Citizen Political Engagement

Through their sociopolitical activism, business leaders increasingly call for citizens to become more politically engaged in favor of a partisan position. This research develops and tests a framework that reveals that corporate sociopolitical activism can indeed elicit such political engagement but runs the risk of simultaneously inciting backlash from citizens who oppose the company’s envisioned political ends. Whereas politically congruent citizens perceive a company’s activism to be morally courageous and are thus inspired to support the company’s stance, politically incongruent citizens feel threatened by the company’s activism and become politically engaged in protection of their political identity. Companies may, however, succeed in increasing moral courage attributions without simultaneously affecting citizens’ political identity threat by acting as first movers in their activism. A series of experiments, including a stimulus sampling approach with 30 real cases of corporate sociopolitical activism, lend support for this framework. The results provide several implications for the political responsibilities of business leaders in contemporary democracies.

Youth Community Organizing Groups Fostering Sociopolitical Wellbeing: Three Healing-Oriented Values to Support Activism

Young organizers are increasingly calling for social movements to center healing alongside activism as they build political power. Campaigns that solely focus on policy wins or base-building can lead to burnout and frustration. Sociopolitical action is more likely to be sustained if accompanied by experiences of care, belonging, and mutual support. Such an approach makes sociopolitical wellbeing central to organizing. Although the research literature has offered conceptualizations of healing, and compelling evidence of health-related outcomes, we still lack empirical examples of what it looks like for youth community organizing (YCO) groups to weave a commitment to healing into sustained collective action. Drawing on qualitative data from the Powerful Youth, Powerful Communities International Study on Youth Organizing, we define and demonstrate three interconnected healing-oriented values that foster what we characterize as sociopolitical wellbeing. The three values, which we illustrate via fieldnotes and interview excerpts, are collectivized care, spiritual activism, and freedom dreaming. YCO holds promising implications for supporting youth engagement in democratic movements for education, racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice.

When ideologies align: Progressive corporate activism and within‐firm ideological alignment

AbstractResearch SummaryThis article examines the association between ideology and firm participation in sociopolitical activism. In particular, it focuses on the ideological alignment between a firm's upper echelons and its general employees. We theorize that participation in progressive corporate activism reflects the ideological views of both the top management team and general employees. By examining firm participation in letter campaigns supporting progressive causes, our findings indicate that ideological alignment between a top management teams and general employees' liberal political leanings is associated with a firm's participation in progressive corporate activism. The CEO's own ideological preferences do not have an independent association with this kind of activism. This article concludes with a discussion of implications for our understanding of corporate political action and nonmarket strategy.Managerial SummaryThis article looks at the relationship between political ideology and firm participation in sociopolitical activism. Although some have argued that firms' activism reflects a CEO's ideological preferences or employee activism, we find that neither explanation fully accounts for the kinds of companies that engage in this kind of activism. We find that progressive corporate activism reflects the ideological views of both top management and general employees. Our findings suggest that companies that have ideological alignment on progressive issues are more likely to take public stands on those issues because the stands reinforce core values held by employees and the top management.

Why Do Some Conservative CEOs Publicly Support Liberal Causes? Organizational Ideology, Managerial Discretion, and CEO Sociopolitical Activism

The phenomenon of chief executive officers (CEOs) speaking out on contested social issues is a recent one, as CEO sociopolitical activism was seen as overly risky, and even taboo, for most of American business history. Yet, CEOs are increasingly choosing sides in societal debates despite the inherent risk of alienating stakeholders who disagree with the CEO’s stance. Even more puzzlingly, conservative CEOs sometimes espouse liberal stances in such debates, which runs counter to the otherwise consistent evidence in the upper echelons literature that CEOs are guided by their own values in their actions. Our study addresses this paradox by examining the antecedents of CEO liberal activism, with an emphasis on the interplay between the CEO’s ideology and the prevailing ideological tilt of the employee population in driving CEOs’ activism decisions. Drawing on the concept of managerial discretion, or latitude of action, we theorize that a pronounced organizational ideology constrains a CEO’s ability to act in accordance with their own values—particularly in the highly symbolic domain of activism. We also argue that conservative CEOs are relatively more focused on instrumental rationales for activism, whereas liberal CEOs tend to prioritize more intrinsic rationales, a consequence of which is that conservative CEOs more heavily weight organizational ideology in their activism decisions. We test our theory in the context of a highly publicized letter signed by nearly 100 CEOs of public companies in opposition to North Carolina’s controversial 2016 “bathroom bill.” Relying on a variety of novel data sources, we find robust support for our theory. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.17160 .

Inequities in adolescent sleep health in Aotearoa New Zealand: Cross-sectional survey findings

ObjectivesTo investigate ethnic inequities in, and social determinants of, adolescent sleep health in Aotearoa New Zealand. MethodsAnalysis of self-report data from a cross-sectional survey of secondary school students (12- to 18-year-olds). Analyses included weighted prevalence estimates of good and poor sleep health stratified by ethnicity, and multivariable logistic regression models concurrently adjusted for ethnicity, school year, gender, rurality, neighborhood deprivation, school decile, housing deprivation, sleeping elsewhere due to lack of adequate housing, unsafe environment, and racism. ResultsInequities in social determinants of health were evident for Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand; n = 1528) and minoritized (Pacific n = 1204; Asian n = 1927; Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African [MELAA] n = 210; and ‘Other' ethnicity n = 225) adolescents. A greater proportion of Māori, Pacific, Asian, MELAA, and ‘Other' adolescents had short sleep, compared to European (n = 3070). Māori, Pacific, Asian, and MELAA adolescents were more likely to report late bedtimes (after midnight), and Māori, Pacific, and ‘Other' adolescents were more likely to report early waketimes (5 AM-6 AM or earlier), on school days. Rurality, neighborhood deprivation, school-level deprivation, housing deprivation, sleeping elsewhere due to inadequate housing, unsafe environments, and racism partially, but not fully, explained associations between ethnicity and short sleep, late bedtimes, and early waketimes. ConclusionsEthnic inequities exist in adolescent sleep health in Aotearoa New Zealand. Socio-political actions are needed to address racism and colonialism as root causes of ethnic inequities in adolescent sleep, to ensure all young people are afforded the basic human right of good sleep health and associated mental and physical well-being.

Comparing the Costs and Benefits of Activism for Girls with Different Sexual Orientations and Racial and Ethnic Identities

In recent years, girls and young women have become particularly visible as leaders of activist campaigns and social movements. Drawing on data collected from an ACLU summer program for youth activists and advocates, this study explores the costs and benefits cisgender girls incur as a result of their activism. The findings reveal that although girls report more benefits than costs overall from their activism, the costs are correlated with the number of marginalized identities they hold. Queer Black girls report the greatest overall costs from their activism, and queer Multiracial girls report the highest rates of burnout. Queer White girls report significantly greater overall costs and problems as a result of their activism than heterosexual White girls, more burnout than heterosexual Black girls, and more empowerment than heterosexual Latinas. Informed by intersectionality and the PVEST framework, implications for supporting the sociopolitical action of girls with different social locations are discussed.

Socio-political activism: transformational challenges in the context of war

The development of civil society is closely linked to the historical process of the formation of the Ukrainian nation. After the outbreak of full-scale war, civil society quickly adapted and at different levels solved social, economic, humanitarian, political, and other problems faced by the country. We hypothesize that martial law has a significant impact on the structure and functions of civil society, and on the activation of public and political involvement of Ukrainians. So, the article initially discusses theoretical aspects of the study of civil society in general and social practices of online activism and volunteerism during the war. It also summarizes the results of a pilot study of the socio-political activity of students of Kyiv universities. Studies of sociological indicators of civil society, sociological portraits of members of public organizations, online civic activity, practices of self-organization, various types of voluntary activities, and political participation of Ukrainians have always been and are relevant. Since new discourses, forms, and ways of realizing political participation and public initiative are only growing every year, new research challenges should be taken up, while using well-working concepts. Therefore, we carried out a pilot study of the socio-political activity of student youth by V. Stepanenko's 3D-dimensional scheme of civil society and made the following conclusions. On the wave of the national liberation struggle against RF, the vector of citizenship began to develop rapidly, there was a rethinking of the meaning of the state, the nation, and one's own identity, which had a certain impact on the worldview of young people and the general trends of activity. In general, the vector of activity among students is gradually developing: the palette of forms of activity and the frequency of their reproduction (as noted by students themselves) have significantly expanded. However, these activities are predominantly individualized and not systematic. Therefore, in general, the activity remains at a low level, partly due to the impossibility of developing the vector of openness during martial law.

Fight, or flee, the future: Affect in contrasting responses against future collective death

Sociologies of the future offer insights into how the future is apprehended by social actors and motivates their actions. Contemporary narratives of crises in the Anthropocene portray an increasingly likely future: one of future collective death. This article conceptualises collective death as a future that possesses both imaginary and material dimensions. I argue that future collective death generates various affective responses that prompt social coalitions to resist its realisation, and I exemplify it with two cases: Extinction Rebellion and Space Colonisation. I explore how futurelessness and grief motivate Extinction Rebellion's direct non-violent actions to fight against future collective death, while death anxiety and terminality drive Space Colonisation's attempts to flee from it. In doing so, I illustrate the role of imagination, affect and material means in configuring future-oriented socio-political action.