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Protest symbology: Political content and demonstration outcomes
Author(s) -
Kowalewski David
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/1098-2337(1986)12:3<183::aid-ab2480120305>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - politics , content (measure theory) , political science , political economy , political communication , the symbolic , social psychology , sociology , psychology , public relations , law , mathematics , mathematical analysis , psychoanalysis
Political symbologists generally concur that the use of symbols by regimes and citizens often leads to favorable outcomes for the manipulators. However, the various impacts of the different politcal contents, or “messages,” within the symbolic containers, or “media,” have gone unstudied. Thus, a major theoretical question arises: Do all messages of political symbols have similar political outcomes? The present investigation examines the impact of the various political contents of symbols manipulated by protest groups during demonstrations in the U.S.S.R. The findings suggest that the higher the politicality of the symbolic content, the fewer the concessions and the greater the repressions meted out to demonstrators by Soviet regime officials. Thus, although a deprived citizen group can obtain favorable regime policies through the political use of symbols, it might benefit most by depoliticizing their content.