Climate justice

The Social Change Lab investigated the so-called ‘radical flank’ effect: whether more radical/extreme protests can improve the perception or acceptability of more moderate campaigners.

Based on several waves of polling data conducted before and after the radical actions of Just Stop Oil in 2022 (blocking the M25 motorway), the authors found that increased awareness of Just Stop Oil after their motorway protest was linked with stronger identification with and support for Friends of the Earth (an increase from 50.3% to 52.9% of the population).

This is a potentially important finding, given that Just Stop Oil themselves are very unpopular among the public and the motorway protests were badly received/reported on very negatively by most media.

However, studies exploring similar questions around protests in other countries have not always always reached the same conclusions: there is not yet consistent evidence for a ‘positive’ radical flank effect from disruptive protest.