UCLA

Under what conditions does intersectionality influence the strategies of social movement leaders? Social identities are crucial for social movement organizations (SMO), serving as one of the strongest mobilizers for movement participants. Activists utilize group identities to recruit and retain participants (Polletta and Jasper 2001), similarly, the social identities of the movement’s leadership are important for mobilization processes. Psychology research suggests people expect leaders to hold more privileged identities such as Whiteness or masculinity (Rosette, Leonardelli, and Phillips 2008; Scott and Brown 2006). While Black women can achieve leadership positions, they tend to do so in organizations on the decline (Rosette and Livingston 2012a). Between the downward trajectory of the organizations and discrimination from within (H. M. Hurwitz 2019) leaders with multiple marginalized, or intersectional, identities face tremendous challenges in leading activist organizations.I argue intersectional activists take resistance against their intersectional identity into account in their strategizing and therefore prefer more moderate tactics rather than techniques considered radical. I speculate this includes a hesitation to include intersectional political agendas into their organizing for fear of backlash. This framework identifies the concern of discriminatory resistance as a key factor in intersectional leaders' tactical selection and assesses the potency of this factor’s influence on public opinion. Social psychology research finds that as intersectional activists' leadership status is more fragile, they are more likely to act on behalf of the group and react more harshly when someone defies group norms (Ellemers and Jetten 2013). Given the symbiotic relationship between leaders and followers, I assess each group’s perception of public support for intersectional leadership and their freedom in emphasizing issues. This multi-method project seeks to understand intersectional leadership within social justice organizations and how these dynamics influence American political behavior. Utilizing survey experiments and in-depth interviews, I focus this analysis on Black women’s incorporation into activist organizations' public reception to movements focusing on them, public response to Black women’s leadership, and how Black women in social movements manage these attitudes while organizing.