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https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.48.2023.33
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How Imagination Takes Power: The Motivational Foundations of Collective Action in Social Movement Mobilization
Die Macht der Imagination: Explikationen zu den motivationalen Grundlagen kollektiven Handelns am Beispiel sozialer Bewegungen
[journal article]
Abstract The foundations of collective action and agency in large groups remain a challenging theoretical problem. Why are individuals willing to contribute to a common goal, even though their contribution may have little impact? This paper aims to answer this question by explicating the motivational mechani... view more
The foundations of collective action and agency in large groups remain a challenging theoretical problem. Why are individuals willing to contribute to a common goal, even though their contribution may have little impact? This paper aims to answer this question by explicating the motivational mechanisms that facilitate collective action and elucidating the underlying conditions and processes using social movement mobilization as an example. The mechanisms responsible for modifying motivation and action orientations in large-scale collective action are explicated at the level of individual structures of intentionality and specified as imagination and plural self-awareness. These mechanisms create the mental prerequisites for collective action by modifying two crucial determinants of action orientations: self-efficacy and intentional control. Recurring to the case of the German environmental movement, we demonstrate that collective agency arises when a shared imaginary takes shape, and plural self-awareness gives way to common action orientations through the catalyzing effect of an external synchronizing stimulus.... view less
Keywords
collective behavior; action; group; intention; motivation; mobilization; action orientation; self-efficacy; social movement; Federal Republic of Germany
Classification
Social Psychology
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
collective action; collective actors; collective intentionality; imagination; plural self-awareness; intentionality; environmental movement
Document language
English
Publication Year
2023
Page/Pages
p. 255-276
Journal
Historical Social Research, 48 (2023) 3
Issue topic
The Emergence and Effects of Non-hierarchical Collective Agency
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed