IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natsus/v7y2024i12d10.1038_s41893-024-01444-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Radical climate protests linked to increases in public support for moderate organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Ostarek

    (Social Change Lab)

  • Brent Simpson

    (University of South Carolina)

  • Cathy Rogers

    (Social Change Lab)

  • James Ozden

    (Social Change Lab)

Abstract

Social movements have the power to drive large-scale social change but the effectiveness of disruptive tactics in achieving this change is uncertain. To shed light on this debate, we conducted nationally representative surveys before and after a week-long disruptive campaign to block London’s M25 motorway (November 2022) by the protest group Just Stop Oil (n = 1,415). Our results suggest that increased awareness of a radical group as a result of a highly publicized non-violent disruptive protest can increase identification with and support for more moderate climate groups (here, Friends of the Earth) in the span of only 2 weeks. Our study provides new insights into the dynamics of social movements and the role of radical protest in driving change. The positive radical flank effect observed here suggests that non-violent radical actions may constitute a largely untapped strategic resource for moderate groups within the broader climate movement.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Ostarek & Brent Simpson & Cathy Rogers & James Ozden, 2024. "Radical climate protests linked to increases in public support for moderate organizations," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(12), pages 1626-1632, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:7:y:2024:i:12:d:10.1038_s41893-024-01444-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01444-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01444-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41893-024-01444-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:7:y:2024:i:12:d:10.1038_s41893-024-01444-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.