Leaders strategically define social categories to advance their mobilization projects

Evidence

Indeed, we argue that, precisely because social category definitions affect collective mobilization, those concerned with shaping the social world will actively define the nature of categories as a function of their social projects. They will seek to create an inclusive category which embraces all those they seek to mobilize, whose values and priorities are realized in their proposals and of which they themselves are representative. That is what we mean when we refer to leaders as entrepreneurs of identity. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 80

Categorization

• DEFINE: Canonical definition of leaders as ‘entrepreneurs of identity’.
• SEED: Angle: how the leader must be exemplary/representative of the very ingroup they construct — positionality as a hidden requirement of credible category definition.
• XREF: connects to: Social movement frames are leadership-produced worldviews that give activists ideological context. — Donatella della Porta et al., Mobilizing Against the Odds: Solidarity…, 33; Category definitions determine who mobilizes, for what, and who leads — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 75; Whoever controls category definitions holds the basis of social power. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 77 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Leaders convert social identity into social reality by initiating group and societal structures #expands (0.90) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 118
• Leaders embody shared identity by styling themselves as category prototypes #exemplifies (0.88) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 83
• Whoever controls category definitions holds the basis of social power. #corroborates (0.85) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 77
• Leaders’ power to define reality depends on the balance between mobilization and resistance #qualifies (0.85) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 106
• Leaders substantiate identity rhetoric through social practices that enact the desired vision #expands (0.85) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 114
• Social category definitions both reflect context and actively remake social relations #expands (0.82) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 79
• The Proud Boys borrowed skinhead subcultural signifiers for right-wing organizing #exemplifies (0.78) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 448
• Strong leadership signals the weakness of the underlying social movement #complicates (0.75) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 272