Navigating the boundary between ‘normative’ and ‘non-normative’ collective action: A British case study of the removal of a public statue associated with racism

IF 3.8 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

British Journal of Social Psychology Pub Date : 2026-03-06 DOI:10.1111/bjso.70058

John Dixon, Magi Young, Shelley McKeown, Paul Stenner, Sofia Stathi, Gian Antonio Di Bernardo, Loris Vezzali

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Abstract

Psychological research typically distinguishes between normative (e.g., peaceful protests, petitions) and non-normative (e.g., property destruction, riots) collective action. This binary framework has proved useful in exploring the psychological factors that shape different forms of collective action. However, recent critiques suggest it oversimplifies the fluid, contested, and context-dependent nature of collective protest. Our paper develops these critiques through qualitative analysis of walking interview accounts and courtroom transcripts of an event occurring at a 2020 Black Lives Matter rally in the city of Bristol, UK. During this event, a public statue of Edward Colston (1636-1721), a 17th century slaver, was toppled, defaced, and thrown in the River Avon, and four protestors were subsequently charged with, then acquitted of, criminal damage. Implications for conceptualising and investigating collective action are explored and the importance of recovering the situated meanings and consequences of local understandings of normative and non-normative action emphasised.

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在“规范”和“非规范”的集体行动之间导航：拆除与种族主义有关的公共雕像的英国案例研究。

心理学研究通常区分规范的集体行动（如和平抗议、请愿）和非规范的集体行动（如破坏财产、骚乱）。这种二元框架在探索形成不同形式的集体行动的心理因素方面已被证明是有用的。然而，最近的批评表明，它过度简化了集体抗议的流动性、争议性和情境依赖性。我们的论文通过对英国布里斯托尔市2020年“黑人的命也是命”集会上发生的事件的步行采访记录和法庭记录进行定性分析，提出了这些批评。在这次活动中，17世纪奴隶贩子爱德华·科尔斯顿（Edward Colston, 1636-1721）的公共雕像被推倒、污损并扔进了埃文河，四名抗议者随后被指控犯有刑事损害罪，后来又被无罪释放。对概念化和调查集体行动的影响进行了探讨，并强调了恢复规范性和非规范性行动的地方理解的定位意义和后果的重要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

British Journal of Social Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

9.50

自引率

7.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： The British Journal of Social Psychology publishes work from scholars based in all parts of the world, and manuscripts that present data on a wide range of populations inside and outside the UK. It publishes original papers in all areas of social psychology including: • social cognition • attitudes • group processes • social influence • intergroup relations • self and identity • nonverbal communication • social psychological aspects of personality, affect and emotion • language and discourse Submissions addressing these topics from a variety of approaches and methods, both quantitative and qualitative are welcomed. We publish papers of the following kinds: • empirical papers that address theoretical issues; • theoretical papers, including analyses of existing social psychological theories and presentations of theoretical innovations, extensions, or integrations; • review papers that provide an evaluation of work within a given area of social psychology and that present proposals for further research in that area; • methodological papers concerning issues that are particularly relevant to a wide range of social psychologists; • an invited agenda article as the first article in the first part of every volume. The editorial team aims to handle papers as efficiently as possible. In 2016, papers were triaged within less than a week, and the average turnaround time from receipt of the manuscript to first decision sent back to the authors was 47 days.