Marching against climate inaction. A quantitative ethnography of climate protests in France

Abstract

Since 2018, student and high school strikes and protests against climate change have multiplied and become a focal point in political news. Alongside other forms of activism, these movements illustrate the relevance of so-called “traditional” forms of collective action. Faced with what appears to be a new cycle in the history of environmental activism, recent research has focused on the most engaged forms of action, such as blockades and occupations. This article aims to shed light on larger-scale mobilizations using quantitative data, aiming to understand the continuities and changes in the social and political profiles of individuals engaged in environmental issues. Based on questionnaires conducted during four days of action, we provide an analysis of the socio-demographic profile of those involved in the protests and their relationship with politics. Contrary to analyses characterizing it as a “youth movement”, devoid of ideology or deactivating old political divides, we show that these mobilizations recruit from segments of the population historically invested in ecology, while also shifting preferred modes of action. However, far from being unified, studying the movement’s composition through interconnected significant variables helps to comprehend the internal oppositions within the movement. While the movement appears to involve a significant participation from skilled labor (and their sons and daughters) and leans towards the left, small social distances are noticeable. These contribute to explaining political and strategic divisions, as well as the logic behind the renewal of both collective and individual forms of engagement.