Bliuc Ana-Maria, Hamilton Tayla, Muntele Daniela
Department of Psychology, School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Law, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom.
School of Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2024 Jun 26;15:1290065. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1290065. eCollection 2024.
In this research, we examine how intragroup fragmentation, which is the division of a group into smaller subgroups, interacts with different forms of action against gender inequality. We focused on two types of action: actions that promote social change and actions that encourage retribution.
We investigated these processes within the #MeToo social movement using data collected in Australia ( = 363) and Romania ( = 135). In both samples, we measured antecedents of 'group consciousness' (previous experience with discrimination, empathic concern, and perspective taking) and its indicators (social identification, perceived group efficacy beliefs, and group emotions such as anger and contempt). As indicators of intragroup fragmentation, we measured endorsement of different categories of group behaviors such as pro-social change action versus pro-retribution action. To assess the predictive power of motivations for joining the movement (antecedents of group consciousness) and of group consciousness for either pro-social or retributive actions, we tested several structural equation models (SEMs).
Our results indicate that the motivations for joining such social movements were more complex than anticipated, with perspective-taking emerging as a significant differentiator. Our analyses further show that different dimensions of group consciousness could predict support for either pro-social or retributive actions.
These findings highlight the complexity of the intragroup processes in newly emerging, modern social movements such as #MeToo. Our findings have implications for the study of membership dynamics in social movements and suggest that strategies to mobilise support should be tailored to these complexities. Overall, this research contributes to the current understanding of intragroup dynamics in contemporary social movements, thereby providing insights that could inform both grassroots mobilisation strategies and policy interventions aiming to increase gender equality.
在本研究中，我们考察了群体内部分裂（即将一个群体划分为更小的子群体）如何与针对性别不平等的不同形式的行动相互作用。我们聚焦于两种行动类型：促进社会变革的行动和鼓励报复的行动。
我们利用在澳大利亚（n = 363）和罗马尼亚（n = 135）收集的数据，对#MeToo社会运动中的这些过程进行了调查。在两个样本中，我们测量了“群体意识”的前因（先前的歧视经历、共情关注和换位思考）及其指标（社会认同、感知到的群体效能信念以及愤怒和轻蔑等群体情绪）。作为群体内部分裂的指标，我们测量了对不同类别群体行为的认可程度，如亲社会变革行动与亲报复行动。为了评估加入该运动的动机（群体意识的前因）以及群体意识对亲社会或报复性行动的预测能力，我们测试了几个结构方程模型（SEM）。
我们的结果表明，加入此类社会运动的动机比预期的更为复杂，其中换位思考成为一个显著的区分因素。我们的分析进一步表明，群体意识的不同维度可以预测对亲社会或报复性行动的支持。
这些发现凸显了#MeToo等新兴现代社会运动中群体内部过程的复杂性。我们的发现对社会运动中的成员动态研究具有启示意义，并表明动员支持的策略应针对这些复杂性进行调整。总体而言，本研究有助于当前对当代社会运动中群体内部动态的理解，从而提供可用于指导基层动员策略和旨在促进性别平等的政策干预的见解。
