Solidarity effects in social movement messaging: How cueing dominant group identity can increase movement support

Despite the historical importance of dominant group solidarity with movements for social justice, little empirical work has examined how the social identity of movement supporters influences the persuasiveness of their social movement messages. Across two experiments, we manipulated the group identity (White, Black, or anonymous) of a speaker in a message supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement to examine its effects on White Americans’ perceptions of the speaker and their ultimate support for the movement. Results indicated that identity cues affected evaluations of the speaker (Study 1), and that these evaluations, in turn, mediated the effects of identity cues on attitudes toward the social movement (Study 2). Among White participants, White speakers were evaluated (a) more favorably in general than anonymous speakers, and (b) as less racist than both Black and anonymous speakers. Such evaluations were ultimately associated with increased support for #BlackLives Matter. Implications of solidarity effects in social movement messaging are discussed.