Why People Attended the G8 Rally

Abstract

This chapter argues from an empirical perspective that scholars need to go beyond rational actor and framing theories and incorporate expectancy-value theory in order to understand audience motivations for mobilization. According to rational actor theory, free riding is clearly a problem for social movements: as Olson explains, when no single individual’s actions can make a perceptible contribution to the delivery of the collective good, it is difficult to motivate them to action, and even more so for movements such as Make Poverty History that are driven by conscience constituents rather than direct beneficiaries. How a movement frames the prognostic element of its communications to present a solution that motivates individuals to action is therefore important. However, reality is more complex than this. Some respondents do indeed question the point of participating in a movement when the impact of their participation is hard to judge and may be imperceptible. Others argue from a moral basis for the need to participate without even taking into consideration what the final outcome may be. This shows the requirement to take a more in-depth look at participants’ understandings of the impacts of mobilization to draw out their motivations for engaging or not (Klandermans and Oegema 1987).