Credit cooperatives make a significant economic and social contribution to development in Kenya. They are unique financial institutions that are jointly owned and democratically controlled by their members. This study explores how members of Kenyan credit cooperatives achieve economic cooperation. A sociological basis of cooperation exists because cooperatives are voluntary associations. Economic cooperation was thus conceptualised as collective economic action that enables individual actors to secure economic benefits through associational membership. An economic sociology perspective provided the theoretical basis for combining the analysis of economic interests and social relations. The study employed a qualitative case study research design involving a rural and an urban credit cooperative. Social capital was used to explore the role of associational features in facilitating collective action while the concept of institutions was used to examine how institutions organize and shape collective action. Each cooperative was conceptualised as a microstructure to enable an analysis of group relations. An analysis of the economic and socio-political context provided the contextual basis for economic cooperation. The findings suggest that shared values and solidarity bonds are important in creating collective economic resources while maintenance of the collective resources depends on regular reciprocity exchanges, effective enforcement and transparent representation. A new regulatory framework that emphasizes prudential standards and economic efficiency has redefined the incentive structure for Kenyan credit cooperatives. It is likely to favour a business rather than a social welfare mentality in the cooperatives. The socio-political context reveals persistent vertical linkages that have resulted in low political and economic power for rural smallholder farmers compared to urban public sector employees. The study concludes that although credit cooperatives have acted as financial catalysts by enabling the participation of disadvantaged groups in the economic sphere, they are also societal mirrors that reflect the broader income and gender inequalities existing in society. The recognition of cooperatives as economic and social organizations therefore contributes to a better understanding of how cooperatives work.

This dissertation explores the experience of participating in collective protest. I performed an existential-phenomenological analysis of five participants’ in-depth accounts of their involvements participating in collective protest. I considered my interviewees’ discourse to be reflective of their lived, embodied experiences of being in protest with others. Participants each described distinct protesting experiences. I explored their accounts in relation to six basic aspects of existence: self, other, embodiment, time, space, and choice/freedom. From within these existential realms, participants’ accounts revealed five key existential themes of participating in collective protest: (1) Existential Crises and Activation; (2) Existential Magnification; (3) Existential Horizons; (4) Existential Stakes; and (5) Existential Time-Space. These themes emerged from the ways my participants discussed their experiences in contingent and concrete interrelationships with the six basic states of existence. I considered phenomenological similarities and departures across participants’ descriptions and uncovered 30 distinct modes, or manners in which they experienced their participation in embodied collective protest. My insights suggest that collective protests frequently emerge during periods of heightened cultural disorder. During such anxious times, many participants seek the company of others in collective protest to have their voices heard and to be with people who are similarly concerned. Participants discussed the importance of preserving and exercising their First Amendment rights to publicly communicate dissent in this way. My interviewees also described understandings that protesting is a potentially dangerous activity, but that the risks are assumed collectively. While protesting can be unsafe, this collective action pertains to individuals banding together to make an ethical statement addressing the sense that something bad is on the horizon. While in protest together, people often meet like-minded others, and sometimes these connections bond members in enduring activist communities. At the heart of participating in collective protest are individuals who make a personal choice to adventure out in public to demonstrate in communicative interaction with fellow citizens.

The majority of today’s emerging adults view climate change as the defining challenge of their generation (Amnesty International, 2019). Young people’s climate concern has translated to unprecedented collective climate action, such as the youth climate strikes of 2019. However, young people and their relevant social identities are underrepresented in research on collective climate action. Following the social identity model of pro-environmental action (Fritsche et al., 2018), the current study assesses the extent to which emerging adults identify with Generation Z, or Gen-Z, as a relevant ingroup. In a Prolific survey of 296 participants aged 18-24 and currently living in Canada, I examined young people’s Gen-Z ingroup identification, perceived collective efficacy of Gen-Z, and three collective action outcomes: intentions to follow youth climate groups on social media, intentions to engage in future collective climate action, and participation in sending an advocacy message to the B.C. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. I hypothesized that the interaction of ingroup identification and collective efficacy would predict collective climate action outcomes above and beyond the influence of each construct individually. This hypothesis was not supported. While Gen-Z ingroup identification and perceived collective efficacy each predicted intentions to follow youth climate groups on social media and intentions to engage in future collective action, the interaction term added no explanatory power to the models. Neither Gen-Z ingroup identification nor collective efficacy predicted participation in the advocacy message behaviour. These findings underscore the importance of systematically investigating broad social identities in the field of collective climate action, which has predominantly focused on specific environmentalist groups. The current study also highlights the need for further investigation of predictors of behavioural outcomes. / Graduate / 2022-12-15

The participation of advantaged group members in collective action with the disadvantaged group to challenge inequality is crucial to building a social movement. Although prior work has found that an invitation to participate in collective action is a strong predictor of participation, the extent to which advantaged group members are influenced by such invitations is not known. The present research investigates the effect of the race of an inviter (White vs. Black) on Whites’ willingness to participate in collective action for racial justice as a function of their underlying prejudicial attitudes. Study 1 found that greater internal motivation to respond without prejudice (IMS) was associated with greater willingness to participate in collective action for racial justice. Study 2 found a marginal interaction between race and IMS in predicting collective action, such that for Whites high on IMS, a Black (vs. White) inviter evoked greater willingness to participate in collective action; however, this effect was not replicated in Study 3. Instead, Study 3 found that IMS and the Black (vs. White) inviter independently predicted greater willingness for collective action. Study 3 also found initial evidence of conferred psychological standing to explain how inviter’s race shapes collective action. Specifically, a Black (vs. White) inviter was perceived to have greater psychological standing on issues of racial justice, which increased Whites’ personal standing, and subsequently, Whites’ willingness to participate in collective action for racial justice.

This study aims to analyze how the problem of corruption manifests itself in thoroughlycorrupt contexts. Through a theoretical framework inspired by rational choice two theorieswill be examined against each other, collective action and principal agent theory. The studyaims to investigate whether part of the explanation is a misunderstanding of how corruptionmanifests itself in deeply corrupt nations. It does this by comparing two nations that bothshare such characteristics, Tanzania and Zambia with a theory-testing approach. The resultshows that while both theories have some merit, the collective action theory might be morefitting.

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No / In this paper, a framework is developed to consider collective action, sustainability and the capability approach with regard to resolution of water disputes, followed by a brief discussion of how identity can hinder cooperation or the development of universalism. This framework is then examined with a case study of the Cauvery river dispute in India. At the heart of river water disputes are issues related to justice and fairness, which depend to a significant extent on: how citizens perceive their claims over river water (shaped by cultural and historical factors); the extent to which citizens are able to collectivize their claims through location, economic activity and identity, and use their voice to influence the state; the extent to which the state policy and actions reflect the 'voice' and collective interests of different groups; and how the various riparian states recognize and deal with each others' claims. The framework discussed here suggests that the capability approach provides us with a much broader framework than collective action or Robert Solow's sustainability as inter-generational fairness. These are conjectures for further exploration.

This dissertation investigates the role of digital media for contentious collective action. More precisely, it focuses on German anti-asylum-shelter (AAS) groups on Facebook and the way these organizations’ usage of platform affordances can be read from an adaptation of the framework of Modes of Coordination (MoC) of collective action. To do so, the thesis starts with an inquiry of the theoretical debate on the role of information and communication technology for social movements and collective action and highlights some misconceptions and discrepancies, especially on the role of formal organizations (chapter II). It argues to carefully explore the different interorganizational ties that form between AAS-groups and the networks that emerge from these in light of the two dimensions of resource exchange and boundary definition. After that, chapter III provides detailed accounts of case selection and data collection and of the research questions that structure the subsequent analyses. To answer these, chapter IV-i explores the temporal and spatial activity patterns of AAS-groups both on- and offline, finding a clear correspondence between the two. Chapter IV-ii uses topic modelling to explore the content of groups’ communication, identifying a narrative of the reasonable and peaceful in-group and a combination of criminal (asylum-seekers), treacherous (politicians) and lying (press) outgroups. This clearly debunks a narrative of centrist “concerned citizens” and shows the deeply racist and right-wing extremist nature of AAS activity. The third empirical part (chapter IV-iii) discusses five types of networks that emerge from groups’ activities and combines these into four different MoC. We can identify a prevalence of the organizational mode of coordination, that involves limited exchange in terms of both resource exchange and boundary definition. However, a small but dense network also emerges from those ties that are defined by the social movement mode. Exponential Random Graph Modelling shows that while spatial proximity is a key determinant for tie formation across all modes, the role of formal organizations (right-wing parties) must not be dismissed. In fact, it differs both by party and by MoC in question. Overall, as chapter V sums up, the dissertation proves the relevance of a relational perspective to the study of digitally mediated collective action in general, as well as of an adapted framework of MoC in particular.

This thesis examines how communication technology is used for creating a democratic and committed participation within collective action organizations (CAOs). This is achieved by illuminating how organizations' structure and culture relate to their communication. It’s done by in-depth interviews with network-based movements and association-based organizations, and analyses of their digital newsletters. The analysis is based on affordance-driven theory, capturing the interaction between organizations and their digital platforms. The focus lies on how internal democracy and collective action are afforded or constrained to some degrees. Degrees of deliberation for creating common ground and active participation are made visible by using the concept of communicative action. Theories within social movement studies, such as collective action, broaden the understanding of how the perception of digital tools shapes and is shaped by their structure and culture. The results show that the usage and coordination of communication channels is essential for the practice of internal democracy in everyday work, beyond annual meetings and board meetings. Independent chat-based platforms enable an increased control of conversations, cooperation and coordination, while information overload and effective decision- making processes can hinder democratic participation. Commercial social media platforms such as Facebook enables new flows of engagement and connectivity but constrains coordination and control of the framing process within Facebook groups. Additionally, unpredictable algorithms and advertising policy on Facebook makes it difficult to reach out. Overall, the study suggests a broadened view of communication, where communication and usage of digital media should not be considered as instrumental entities. Rather, it is strongly related to how channels are being coordinated, how organizations are organized and the view of participation. Formal structures can both hinder and enable increased communicative action that contributes to democratic participation.