Study says protesting is good for you
Group protests, or "collective action", may have
health benefits for participants, according to research by British
psychologists.
A study by Dr. John Drury, a lecturer in
social psychology at the University of Sussex, suggests that group protesting
and demonstrating is good for people's health because it encourages a sense of
empowerment, mutual support and
unity.
“Many published activist
accounts refer to feelings of encouragement and confidence emerging from
experiences of collective action,” said
Drury.
“It’s similar when
people come out to welcome home a winning football team, go to London’s
Trafalgar Square on New Year's Eve or go to a rave. They have a sense of
community - but with protest, people have the addition of a sense of changing
the world.”
The study involved
more than 40 in-depth interviews with activists and protesters from a variety of
backgrounds. Participants described more than 160 experiences of collective
action, including traditional marches, fox hunting sabotages, anti-capitalist
street parties, environmental direct action and industrial mass
pickets.
“The main factors
contributing to a sense of empowerment were the realization of the collective
identity, the sense of movement potential, unity and mutual support within a
crowd,” explained Drury.
He found
that the protesters experienced events as joyous occasions, almost without
exception, and that they felt a deep sense of happiness and even euphoria at
being involved. Simply recounting events in interviews brought a smile to their
faces, Drury added.
Even when
demonstrations involved violent clashes with the police, protesters tended to
feel good if they thought they had won the battle. If the police were seen as
the victors, less experienced demonstrators had negative feelings, while
veterans were able to put events into context and deal with their
emotions.
Over the last few years,
psychologists have become more interested in how psychological and physical good
health can be improved by positive experiences, which improve the speed of
physical recovery, the ability to cope with stress and a reduction in pain,
anxiety and depression.
“The
take-home message from this research, therefore, might be that people should get
more involved in campaigns, struggles and social movements,” said Drury.
“Not only in the wider interest of social change, but also for their own
personal good.”
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Posted: Wed - January 1, 2003 at 08:51 PM