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Updated: Jul 12, 2025

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
When Are Social Protests Effective?
Eric Shuman1, Amit Goldenberg2, Tamar Saguy3
1Department of Psychology, New York University, New York City, NY, USA; Negotiation Organization and Markets, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Digital Data and Design Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
Abstract:
Around the world, people engage in social protests aimed at addressing major societal problems. Certain protests have led to significant progress, yet other protests have resulted in little demonstrable change. We introduce a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of social protest made up of three components: (i) what types of action are being considered; (ii) what target audience is being affected; and (iii) what outcomes are being evaluated? We then review relevant research to suggest how the framework can help synthesize conflicting findings in the literature. This synthesis points to two key conclusions: that nonviolent protests are effective at mobilizing sympathizers to support the cause, whereas more disruptive protests can motivate support for policy change among resistant individuals.
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