Political values and extra-institutional political participation: The impact of economic redistributive and social libertarian preferences on protest behaviour

Published date01 September 2019
Date01 September 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118780425
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118780425
International Political Science Review
2019, Vol. 40(4) 470 –485
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512118780425
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Political values and
extra-institutional political
participation: The impact of
economic redistributive and
social libertarian preferences
on protest behaviour
Maria T Grasso
University of Sheffield, UK
Marco Giugni
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Abstract
Previous studies have found that left-wing and libertarian individuals are more likely to engage in
extra-institutional political activism. However, due to a lack of suitable data, studies to date have
not analysed the relative influence of economic redistributive and social libertarian values for the
intensity of protest participation. By analysing data from a unique cross-national dataset on participants
in mass demonstrations in seven countries, this article addresses this gap in the literature and provides
evidence of the relative impact of economic redistributive and social libertarian values in explaining
different degrees of protest participation. We show that there are divergent logics underpinning the
effect of the two value sets on extra-institutional participation. While both economically redistributive
and libertarian social values support extra-institutional participation, economically redistributive
protesters are mobilized to political action mainly through organizations, whereas the extra-institutional
participation of social libertarian protesters is underpinned by their dissatisfaction with the workings
of democracy.
Keywords
Extra-institutional participation, participation, progressive values protest, values
Corresponding author:
Maria Grasso, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, Elmfield, Northumberland Road, Sheffield, S10 2TU, UK.
Email: m.grasso@sheffield.ac.uk
780425IPS0010.1177/0192512118780425International Political Science ReviewGrasso and Giugni
research-article2018
Article
Grasso and Giugni 471
Introduction
Progressive values can relate to either economic redistributive or social libertarian claims. This
study analyses the extent to which protest activism is underpinned by either set of values. Previous
research has tended to argue that more progressive values underpin extra-institutional political
participation (Welzel and Deutsch, 2012). The literature on political attitudes has identified two
different value dimensions: an economic redistributive–free market dimension and a libertarian–
authoritarian social values dimension (Tilley, 2005). The context of the recent economic crisis
provides fertile ground for such an examination because many scholars have argued that the ‘cul-
tural turn’ in social movement activism has been redirected through a focus on inequality and
redistributive concerns in the wake of the Great Recession (Giugni and Grasso 2015b; Grasso and
Giugni 2016a). As Fligstein and McAdam argue, events that affect large numbers of non-state
fields such as large-scale economic crises can ‘undermine the power of incumbents and grant lev-
erage to challengers… but even in more settled times, there are routine, low-level conflicts going
on constantly in state and nonstate strategic action fields’ (Fligstein and McAdam, 2012: 76).
As has been shown previously, one of the primary challenges for social movement ‘organiza-
tional entrepreneurs’ is to redefine the ‘rules of the game’ and the terms of debate in wider society.
The first step in this process involves the realisation that present conditions are subject to change
and that concerted social and political action is amenable to reconfiguring these conditions (Fligstein
and McAdam, 2012). The collective identity-formation of social movements plays a large role in
this process (Polletta and Jasper, 2001). At the individual level, ideology and value commitments
recognising the potential for alternative social arrangements are key (McAdam, 1986).
While both economic redistributive and social liberal values tend to be associated with the pro-
gressive end of the spectrum of political beliefs, these two types of value commitments do not need
to go hand in hand, nor do they imply similar underlying logics of belief. While a more redistribu-
tive economic policy implies a greater need for governmental action to control, plan and manage
the economy, in contrast a more social liberal agenda implies the state withdrawing from the pri-
vate sphere to a greater extent. As such, one would expect two different logics to be in play in the
extent to which leftist and libertarian values promote protest politics. Supporters of economic
redistribution could be seen to be more likely to use protest as a political resource (Lipsky, 1968),
as marginalised groups struggling to making inroads by other means and thus increase their bar-
gaining ability by using protest actions as a reliable political tool to establish a group voice in the
political arena (Gillion, 2013). Instead, for libertarians protest could be seen as an end in itself, the
objective expression of anti-authoritarianism and their dissatisfaction with the political process,
particularly in times of crisis (Giugni and Grasso 2018a).
Rising government surveillance across the globe is another trend contributing to anti-govern-
ment protest (Tarrow, 2015). Today, as governments increasingly come under fire from contenders
from both the radical left and the populist right, these trends have fed into wider perceptions of a
legitimation crisis in advanced Western democracies and the end of the post-war (WWII) settle-
ment (Giugni and Grasso 2018b). In particular, there is an expansion of surveillance, ‘to those
whose activities are merely related to an ongoing investigation, as opposed to raising probably
cause of actual involvement in illegal activity‘ an this ‘has brought additional civil liberties under
attack: freedom of association, privacy, the right to a fair trial, and access to government informa-
tion‘ (Braman, 2006: 115).
Despite the ubiquity of protest in contemporary society only a handful of studies distinguish
between levels of protest, and whether the extent to which one holds certain types of values can
explain differences in degrees of protest is still largely unknown. Most quantitative studies of pro-
test participation tend to focus on the distinction between protesters and non-protesters, making no

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