TY - JOUR
T1 - Tolerant Solidarity With Violent Protesters
T2 - Evidence From a Survey Experiment
AU - Yuen, Samson
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is supported by General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, Project no: 12608821.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Conventional wisdom holds that violent protests alienate the public. But violence could also create tactical disagreement among protesters and weaken their unity. So, to what extent does protesters’ use of violence erode intra-movement cohesion? This article argues that protesters can preserve cohesion by falsifying their private moral preferences and restraining themselves from public denunciation, an act which I characterize as ‘tolerant solidarity’. Based on a survey experiment on participants of Hong Kong’s 2019 protests, I examine how their private and public preferences toward violence change in response to three divisive conditions: protesters taking the initiative, violence causing physical harm, and violence targeting counter-protesters. Results show while these divisive conditions make respondents more likely to morally disapprove violence, the effects are weaker in their support for public denunciation, an indication that their private preferences are partially concealed. Findings contribute to the study of contentious politics by advancing a more complex understanding of movement cohesion when protester violence is involved.
AB - Conventional wisdom holds that violent protests alienate the public. But violence could also create tactical disagreement among protesters and weaken their unity. So, to what extent does protesters’ use of violence erode intra-movement cohesion? This article argues that protesters can preserve cohesion by falsifying their private moral preferences and restraining themselves from public denunciation, an act which I characterize as ‘tolerant solidarity’. Based on a survey experiment on participants of Hong Kong’s 2019 protests, I examine how their private and public preferences toward violence change in response to three divisive conditions: protesters taking the initiative, violence causing physical harm, and violence targeting counter-protesters. Results show while these divisive conditions make respondents more likely to morally disapprove violence, the effects are weaker in their support for public denunciation, an indication that their private preferences are partially concealed. Findings contribute to the study of contentious politics by advancing a more complex understanding of movement cohesion when protester violence is involved.
KW - Hong Kong
KW - preference falsification
KW - protester violence
KW - solidarity
KW - survey experiment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85160788205&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/00220027231154451
DO - 10.1177/00220027231154451
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85160788205
SN - 0022-0027
VL - 67
SP - 1731
EP - 1756
JO - Journal of Conflict Resolution
JF - Journal of Conflict Resolution
IS - 9
ER -