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Staying a deviant performer: Observations on identity-management in a radical environmental activist group

Widerberg, Martin LU (2025) SOCK10 20251
Sociology
Abstract
In the face of a potential oncoming environmental collapse,
in a time of increasing climate anxiety and activist
disillusionment towards previous environmental efforts, I
look at how a radical environmental activist group becomes
and stays radical. By combining deviant and dramaturgical
perspectives on social movements with Goffman’s classic
work "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", I seek to answer
how deviance comes to affect the performance of a radical
environmental activist group. I work abductively through
in-person and digital observations gathering empirical data
for analysis while evaluating my findings and theory. With
this data I present a contemporary radical environmental
activist group and analyze its ways... (More)
In the face of a potential oncoming environmental collapse,
in a time of increasing climate anxiety and activist
disillusionment towards previous environmental efforts, I
look at how a radical environmental activist group becomes
and stays radical. By combining deviant and dramaturgical
perspectives on social movements with Goffman’s classic
work "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", I seek to answer
how deviance comes to affect the performance of a radical
environmental activist group. I work abductively through
in-person and digital observations gathering empirical data
for analysis while evaluating my findings and theory. With
this data I present a contemporary radical environmental
activist group and analyze its ways of managing deviance
through performance, presented via Excerpt Commentary
Units. I find that deviance is used to facilitate certain
mobilizing collective action frames, narratives, and
performances. However, deviance must be carefully
managed to stop it from affecting the group’s identity and
performance negatively. Further to this, deviance may come
to define the group member’s identity, body, and self-
conception if they seek to stay radical and deviant in the
group. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Widerberg, Martin LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOCK10 20251
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Deviance, Performance, Dramaturgical, Social Movement, Frame Analysis
language
English
id
9196472
date added to LUP
2025-06-17 08:59:26
date last changed
2025-06-17 08:59:26
@misc{9196472,
  abstract     = {{In the face of a potential oncoming environmental collapse,
in a time of increasing climate anxiety and activist
disillusionment towards previous environmental efforts, I
look at how a radical environmental activist group becomes
and stays radical. By combining deviant and dramaturgical
perspectives on social movements with Goffman’s classic
work "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", I seek to answer
how deviance comes to affect the performance of a radical
environmental activist group. I work abductively through
in-person and digital observations gathering empirical data
for analysis while evaluating my findings and theory. With
this data I present a contemporary radical environmental
activist group and analyze its ways of managing deviance
through performance, presented via Excerpt Commentary
Units. I find that deviance is used to facilitate certain
mobilizing collective action frames, narratives, and
performances. However, deviance must be carefully
managed to stop it from affecting the group’s identity and
performance negatively. Further to this, deviance may come
to define the group member’s identity, body, and self-
conception if they seek to stay radical and deviant in the
group.}},
  author       = {{Widerberg, Martin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Staying a deviant performer: Observations on identity-management in a radical environmental activist group}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}