TY  - CHAP
AB  - This paper examines the identity talk of 30 activists from Hartford, Connecticut who work in the overlapping areas of labor, women's rights, queer organizing, anti-racism, community organizing, anti-globalization, and peace. Rather than seeing this talk as strictly a function of the collective action context, this identity talk is analyzed in terms of the multiple social influences that produce it. According to this model, activist identity can be shaped by ideologies derived from social movement culture, biographical experiences with racial, class, gender, and sexuality-based marginalization, and the cultural resources from both pre-existing and movement-based organizations. The analysis of open-ended interviews with activists reveals three somewhat distinct kinds of identity talk: ideological talk derived from either the 1960s white Left or from black nationalist traditions; biographical talk that highlights either a single dimension or multiple dimensions of marginality; organizational talk that references the mission, constituency, or organizing philosophy of the social movement organization of the activist as her/his impetus for activism. I also find that these differences in identity talk are associated with different patterns of social movement participation. This analysis challenges social movement scholars to study identity talk as a creative cultural accomplishment.
VL  - 27
SN  - 978-0-7623-1318-1, 978-1-84950-418-8/0163-786X
DO  - 10.1016/S0163-786X(06)27007-1
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-786X(06)27007-1
AU  - Valocchi Stephen
ED  - Patrick G. Coy
PY  - 2007
Y1  - 2007/01/01
TI  - Ideology, Organization, and Biography: The Cultural Construction of Identity Talk among Progressive Activists in Hartford, Connecticut
T2  - Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change
T3  - Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 189
EP  - 217
Y2  - 2024/09/19
ER  -