Dual pathways to engage in 'silent marches' against violence: Moral outrage, moral cleansing and modes of identification

Abstract

A survey (N= 120) examined variables that contribute to the willingness of people to engage in silent marches against violence in the Netherlands. As argued in Sacred Value Protection Model (SVPM) of Tetlock, Kristel, Elson, Green, and Lerner (2000) and moral mandate theory of Skitka, Bauman, and Sargis (2005), moral threats that are triggered by violent incidents, may indeed drive people to protest against such incidents. Our findings indicated dual pathways to such protests, that are all associated with reactive, angry empathic concerns. These concerns involve people's outrageous, punitive reactions towards offenders on behalf of the victims. These concerns are directly or indirectly related to people's participation intentions. That is, they directly influence the participation intention variable, or indirectly, through (re-)establishing the belief in a just-world, or through more fearful, self-directed moral cleansing reactions. These latter reactions aim at reinforcing community-shared moral standards. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.