Abstract
8 March (8M), now known as International Women’s Day, is a day for feminist claims where demonstrations are organized in over 150 countries, with the participation of millions of women all around the world. These demonstrations can be viewed as collective rituals and thus focus attention on the processes that facilitate different psychosocial effects. This work aims to explore the mechanisms (i.e., behavioral and attentional synchrony, perceived emotional synchrony, and positive and transcendent emotions) involved in participation in the demonstrations of 8 March 2020, collective and ritualized feminist actions, and their correlates associated with personal well-being (i.e., affective well-being and beliefs of personal growth) and collective well-being (i.e., social integration variables: situated identity, solidarity and fusion), collective efficacy and collective growth, and behavioral intention to support the fight for women’s rights. To this end, a cross-cultural study was conducted with the participation of 2,854 people (age 18–79; M = 30.55; SD = 11.66) from countries in Latin America (Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador) and Europe (Spain and Portugal), with a retrospective correlational cross-sectional design and a convenience sample. Participants were divided between demonstration participants (n = 1,271; 94.0% female) and non-demonstrators or followers who monitored participants through the media and social networks (n = 1,583; 75.87% female). Compared with non-demonstrators and with males, female and non-binary gender respondents had greater scores in mechanisms and criterion variables. Further random-effects model meta-analyses revealed that the perceived emotional synchrony was consistently associated with more proximal mechanisms, as well as with criterion variables. Finally, sequential moderation analyses showed that proposed mechanisms successfully mediated the effects of participation on every criterion variable. These results indicate that participation in 8M marches and demonstrations can be analyzed through the literature on collective rituals. As such, collective participation implies positive outcomes both individually and collectively, which are further reinforced through key psychological mechanisms, in line with a Durkheimian approach to collective rituals.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 607538 |
Journal | Frontiers in Psychology |
Volume | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 11 Dec 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Spanish Ministry of the Economy supported this research (under Grants PSI2017-84145-P and Predoctoral Research Grant PRE2018-083265 to PC-A), as well as the Basque Government (under Grant IT-1187-19), the University of the Basque Country (under Grant IT-666-13, Postdoctoral Research
Funding Information:
We wish to express our deepest appreciation to all the participants in this study. Also, we are grateful to the members of the Culture, Cognition and Emotion research team for their valuable comments and suggestions, as well as every individual who collaborated to make this research possible. Funding. The Spanish Ministry of the Economy supported this research (under Grants PSI2017-84145-P and Predoctoral Research Grant PRE2018-083265 to PC-A), as well as the Basque Government (under Grant IT-1187-19), the University of the Basque Country (under Grant IT-666-13, Postdoctoral Research Grant DOCREC20/23 to JP and ESPDOC18/33 to LZ), and FONDECYT Initiation 11190980 granted to AW.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Zumeta, Castro-Abril, Méndez, Pizarro, Włodarczyk, Basabe, Navarro-Carrillo, Padoan-De Luca, da Costa, Alonso-Arbiol, Torres-Gómez, Cakal, Delfino, Techio, Alzugaray, Bilbao, Villagrán, López-López, Ruiz-Pérez, Cedeño, Reyes-Valenzuela, Alfaro-Beracoechea, Contreras-Ibáñez, Ibarra, Reyes-Sosa, Cueto, Carvalho and Pinto.
Keywords
- 8M demonstrations
- collective effervescence
- feminist demonstrations
- gender differences
- participation in collective rituals
- perceived emotional synchrony
- self-transcendence
- well-being