New publication from SUSY: Protests and Policies: How Radical Social Movement Activists Engage with Climate Policy Dilemmas
As climate protests escalate it is increasingly important to recognise ‘protester policy engagement’ – the processing, production and communication of plans for societal change from a position outside the established political system, argues Associate Professor Olaf Corry and colleague in a new article.
Activists engaged in direct action outside the established political system har found to have policy knowledge and agendas comparable to or surpassing those active within the system, argues the authors of a new publication in the leading journal Sociology. The article contributes to research into protester policy engagement, documenting activist attitudes concerning controversial climate policy options using a hybrid method combining participant-observation and expert-led focus groups as well as data gathered at ‘Climate Camps’ in six national contexts alongside evidence from similar ‘participant-instigator’ events at Green Party conferences.
"As climate emergencies are declared and citizens’ assemblies proliferate, we suggest it is increasingly important to recognise ‘protester policy engagement’ – the processing, production and communication of plans for societal change from a position outside the established political system. How this is conceived, evaluated and communicated and how it fits into social movement identities become important aspects of a general sociology of activism that spans both rationalist and emotive registers."