Identity to Action and Back Again: An exploration of the enabling and inhibiting influence of Moralised Minority Practice Identities on societal change
: (Alternative Format Thesis)

Student thesis: Doctoral ThesisPhD

Abstract

Climate change is a social and moral issue, that requires urgent individual and societal transformation. Addressing the climate and ecological emergency will involve substantial individual and societal behaviour change. Things that we do every day without thinking twice, such as eating, can have a large impact on our environment. Many people recognise this and are already taking actions in their everyday lives to reduce their environmental impact. Practices such as reducing or excluding meat from one’s diet are very important for environmental, health and moral reasons. Our social identities are intertwined with our behaviours and can also become important sites for individual behaviour change and collective action.

Societal transformations towards more pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours are often led by people acting in identity groups, such as vegans, zero-wasters or cyclists. These groups can be classified as ‘Moralised Minority Practice Identities’ or MMPIs (Kurz et al., 2020). There are four primary components that shape the understanding of these identity groups. Firstly, these identities are often interpreted as being morally motivated. Sometimes people may adopt these identities for explicitly moral reasons (including those related to health, environment and animal rights for example). Next, people adopting these identities are in the minority group within society, and typically stand in contrast to a societal majority that can stigmatise or derogate MMPI groups for their practices. Next, these groups engage in highly visible and well-defined practices, that are difficult to conceal or ignore. These practices are often embedded in daily life, and might include one’s diet, consumption or travel behaviours. Finally, these groups form identities that have an important impact on one’s social network, community, and self-esteem.

In this PhD, I expand on this novel theoretical typology to understand how MMPI identity groups might act as a “double-edged sword” for social change and societal transitions towards more sustainable futures. On one hand, these groups have a potentially powerful role to play as role models and social influencers for the rest of society: acting as change-makers in their communities, persuading people to adopt their practice, and showing others that their lifestyle is possible. They are also an important resource for individuals adopting the identity, and helping people to maintain their pro-environmental or pro-social practices as a group in the face of significant societal stigma. On the other hand, these MMPI groups may serve to deter outgroup’s willingness to ‘try out’ MMPI associated practices (such as reducing their meat consumption), as the MMPI identities may be perceived as too ‘exclusive’, ‘strict’ or difficult to adopt fully. Categorising everyday behaviours that anyone can complete as the sole domain of one identity group may also pose barriers for the societal diffusion of pro-environmental practices.

In five chapters, this thesis explores both ‘edges’ of this “double edged sword” hypothesis. In three chapters, I explore how MMPI groups understand themselves through intragroup talk. I explore identity-centring spaces and research methodologies act as an important resource to connect MMPI group members together and build solidarity. I also develop a novel Remotely Moderated Focus Group (RMFG) methodology for encouraging intragroup talk. In the remaining two chapters I assess how MMPI associated practices are perceived by outgroups, and how marketing and policy intervention efforts might best serve to encourage outgroups to do these MMPI associated practices. Throughout, I comment on how MMPIs interact with social change processes and act as minority influencers within their social networks and communities.
This PhD advances psychological theorising and methodology surrounding the role of identities in social change by incorporating methods and theory from psychology, philosophy, sociology, politics and human geography. I conclude with an evaluation of the theoretical and methodological contributions of this thesis to the literature on MMPIs, and an assessment of how MMPIs both help and hinder societal change processes. I suggest avenues for future research and reflect critically on how my own identity influenced this thesis. I also explore interventions for improving the effectiveness of MMPIs for societal transitions towards more sustainable futures.
Date of Award25 Aug 2023
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • University of Bath
SupervisorTim Kurz (Supervisor), Leda Blackwood (Supervisor), Lorraine Whitmarsh (Supervisor), Saffron O'Neill (Supervisor) & Jan Willem Bolderdijk (Supervisor)

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