Moral Shock And Animal Rights Movement

For my I.S., I am interested in how and when social movements that are based on the interests and needs of a particular race-based identity group are able to build alliances and mobilize support from the larger population. Specifically, under what conditions will Black social movements in the U.S. gain support from the White American population? Previous literature tells us that grievances, access to resources, and identity all play a significant role in an individual choice to join/support a movement. However, these previous studies do not explain why a person outside of the racial group around which the movement is organized would choose to join/support it. The concept of moral shock, a sense of outrage triggered by a specific situation that causes a person to seek political action, can be created and manipulated by social movement leaders in order to mobilize support from those who do not have a stake in the issues and who otherwise would be unaffected by the issues and events the movements are discussing.

I will contribute to the social movement literature by applying this concept to White Americans support for Black social movements. I have two hypothesize: 1) Individuals who are exposed to a story that is crafted to demonstrate a clear instance of race based injustice and violence will be more likely to report moral outrage and be more likely to join/support a race based social movement. 2) Repeated exposure to similar stories of race base injustice will diminish an outsider’s moral shock and decrease the likelihood of their