Beyond organizational ties: foundations of persistent commitment in environmental activism

ABSTRACT

Movement scholars commonly treat persistent commitment as an aspect of activism that is set in motion when recruits join a group or organization. To investigate the phenomenon of sustained activist commitment that exists separately from or in addition to organizational membership, I examine activist commitment to environmental causes. I base this analysis on thirty open-ended interviews, averaging eighty minutes, with activists whose persistent commitments to environmental causes range from ten to fifty years. I (a) identify patterns that long-term environmental activists express in their personal biographies and activist trajectories, (b) generate insights about commitment mechanisms that exist independently of organizational membership, (c) discuss how existing conceptions of activist commitment might be extended. I recommend that scholars look beyond organizational ties to pinpoint specific mechanisms that produce and sustain activist commitment to causes. I find that committed environmental activists link their activism to strong connections with nature, biographical influences, individual tactics, and personal missions rather than to organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Persistent commitment
• social movement organizations
• environmental activism
• biography
• emotion
• nature

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to Jeff Haydu, who supported the project from its inception, advised me at every stage, and read numerous drafts. Isaac Martin, Christena Turner, Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Harvey Goldman, Lauren Nippoldt, and Davide Carpano furthered my thinking and analyses. I am also grateful to the many activists who shared their lives with me.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Though Corrigall-Brown equates commitment with membership in organizations, she adds two trajectories to the common ‘persist’ or ‘quit’ paths of social movement participation: ‘individual abeyance’ or episodic membership and ‘transfer’ or changing from group to group.

2. All interviewees are referred to by pseudonyms.

3. While many individuals enjoy time in nature as children, these activists connect that time to their motivation. For them, it was the beginning of a cumulative process that led to their close ties with nature and interest in environmental issues.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Driscoll

Daniel Driscoll is a PhD student at the University of California, San Diego. He studies environmental activism and climate change politics using mixed methodology.