Undocumented and Citizen Students Unite: Building a Cross-Status Coalition through Shared Ideology

Social movement coalitions present unique opportunities and challenges for collective action as they bring together organizations, movements, and individuals who hold diverse interests and social positions. The literature suggests that collective identity and shared ideology both offer opportunities...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social problems (Berkeley, Calif.) Calif.), 2014-05, Vol.61 (2), p.155-174
Main Author: Enriquez, Laura E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Application programming interfaces
Citizen Participation
Citizens
Citizenship
Coalition Formation
Coalitions
Collective Action
College Students
Conflict
Group identity
Identity
Ideologies
Ideology
Immigrants
Legal status
Location
Navigation
Political identity
Recruitment
Social justice
Social Movements
Student organizations
Students
U.S.A
Undocumented immigrants
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Summary:Social movement coalitions present unique opportunities and challenges for collective action as they bring together organizations, movements, and individuals who hold diverse interests and social positions. The literature suggests that collective identity and shared ideology both offer opportunities for bridging these differences, but few have addressed their relative utility. Drawing on a case study of a university-based coalition of undocumented and citizen students working to build support for the federal DREAM Act, I find that a social justice ideology was used to facilitate fast-paced recruitment, create simplified participation guidelines based on legal status, and allow for the strategic renegotiation of participation. I argue that building a cross-status coalition through a shared ideology has two key advantages: (1) it allows for fast-paced coalition formation and (2) it promotes the mobilization and commitment of organizations and individuals who occupy different identities and social locations. Additionally, I suggest that conflict among members can be best negotiated through the development of discursive and interactive spaces that allow individuals to engage across their different social locations.
ISSN:0037-7791
1533-8533
DOI:10.1525/sp.2014.12032