1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF SYMBOLISM IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Gene Sharp enumerates various methods of symbolic peaceful opposition or of attempted
persuasion including formal statements, communications with a wider audience, symbolic public
acts, artistic performances, processions, honouring the dead and public assemblies.
(Sharp,2013,25-28) Symbolism is used in social movements for different purposes towards
achieving the goals of a social movement. Protest by itself is a symbolic instrument in showing
the existence of opposition. (Sharp,2013,76) Sign and symbol systems contribute towards
consistency of collective identity by enabling the movement to fit into a visible social reality.
(Korff,1993,106) Symbolic production ‘in reference to experiences, symbols and myths’ as the
foundation of its individuality enables a collective actor to exist although such self-legitimacy
without recognition of its identity by outsiders may lead to marginalization. (Della Porta et al,
2006,106) Social movement selves in postmodern times are ‘continually and reflexively’ formed
as a result of the interplay between its own resources and its interactive achievements of individual
identity.(Broad,2002,331) However, as indicated in the historical background of emergence of
symbols and symbolism, the collective entity precedes symbolism, the latter being a necessity to
express or represent an existing ‘mass’ or ‘collective entity’(Korff,1993,105) Hence, according to
Korff the role of symbolism during its emergence was not constitutive but expressive.(ibid)
Nonetheless, both Korff and other writers do not rule out symbolism could be used as a tool in
both forging and consolidating collective identities. (Ibid, Della Porta, 2006, 109)
Symbols, as simplified ways of communication, appeal to emotions rather than logic in a mass
society where the lower-class may not understand the linguistic behaviour and the political culture.
(Korff,1993,106) It is instrumental in forging collective identities by integrating such
disadvantaged social groups with the rest of the participants. (Ibid, 106&108) Anthropologists
refer to ‘multivocality of symbols’ to mean the same symbol having different meanings for
different people to create a sense of community amongst such different people. (Eriksen
&Nielsen,1993,124) Collective identity as ‘an individual’s cognitive, moral, and emotional
connection with a broader community’ is also expressed through culture including symbolism.
(Polletta and Jasper, 2001, 285) However, in the production of identities, symbols, practices and
rituals are not simply reproduced even where historical, cultural and territorial roots may appeal
to the group. They are rather ‘reappropriated’ to innovatively produce new myths and institutions.
(Swidler and Arditi 1994; Franzosi,2004 n Della Porta et al, 2006, 108) Symbolism is used in
tactical repertoires of social movements both in contestation and in the construction of collective
identity through the use and interpretation of distinctive objects, signs or actions. (Korff,1993,106;
Taylor & Van Dyke in Snow et.al. (ed.),2004,269&270)
In social movements, it is not unusual to use different distinctive objects such as images or rituals
or other objects or actions that generally represent or make the movement visibly stand out among
