Social psychological predictors of revolutionary collective action : abolishing sectarian quotas in Lebanon -

Abstract

Social psychological research on collective action has focused primarily on the social change goal of amelioration, with little emphasis on revolutionary collective action. Moreover, most research has focused on goals that are either progressive or regressive, with more emphasis on the former. In the present study, we examine social psychological predictors of a revolutionary social change goal, namely abolishing the quota system from political posts in Lebanon, and examine the possibility that different groups may join the same “revolutionary” collective action but for largely conflicting social change goals, thus making the social change progressive for some groups but regressive for others. Using a survey study among a sample of Lebanese students at the American University of Beirut, we use the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) to examine predictors of collective action for a revolutionary goal, namely abolishing sectarian quotas from political positions in Lebanon. In particular, we examine if national identification, which is often called upon to resolve Lebanon’ sectarian conflicts, predicts collective action intentions for abolishing sectarian quotas both directly, and indirectly through its influence on perceived injustice of sectarian quotas, and group efficacy. Importantly, we extend the SIMCA model by examining if national identification predicts collective action differently depending on: 1) whether participants perceive the abolishment of confessional quotas to affect the power of their sect positively, negatively, or to have no effect, and 2) on how sectarian they are. Our results show that national identification does not always promote collective action: among those who think the abolishment of sectarian quotas will increase the power of their sect and who are low on sectarianism, greater national identification is linked with lower collective action tendencies. Additionally, collective action was not always driven by progressive motives as lower sectarianism