Punk, politics and tipping points: Why don't we take collective action against injustice?

Social psychologist Dr Osborne has a specific interest in political psychology. By his own admission, Danny’s path into academia was non-traditional. He was, however, a bit of a “rabble-rouser” and heavily into the punk music scene. “It was really music that awakened my socio-political consciousness,” he says.

“The bands I listen to talk about things like Marxism, police brutality, gender inequality, homophobia, racism, and so on.

“Music showed me that the injustices I saw in my local community were present across the globe.”

Dr Osborne was inspired to pick up a pile of books as well as a guitar, and he began to read about the topics his favourite bands were writing about. “When I was applying to do my PhD, I only applied to places where I could get a degree in political psychology. The rest is history!”

In particular, Danny’s research is focused on New Zealanders’ beliefs about our ability to change social policy or influence contemporary socio-economic conditions, and he is interested in understanding the psychological barriers to collective action; in other words, when a situation is unfair, why don’t we protest more?

“Inequality and injustice around the world show no signs of abating and, in fact, it could be argued are actually on the rise,” Dr Osborne says.

“Some of my current work indicates that we do not react to injustice as frequently as most models of collective action would suggest.”

Danny’s research has revealed that collective action to redress inequality actually challenges some of our most basic psychological tendencies. He says that by blaming individuals for their experiences rather than the systems and structures that enable inequalities, we’re defending the status quo.

“It feels so natural to blame the individual, but we really have to fight this urge and ask ourselves, ‘What kind of society would allow – and even revere – someone who drives a $300,000 car, when there are people starving on the streets?’”

The most surprising thing that Dr Osborne has found is that people’s beliefs about their power to change the system can undermine their support for collective action – because by believing they can change things for the better, they are implicitly endorsing the idea that society is fair.

According to Danny, a metaphorical ‘suggestion box’ is a powerful thing: “Sometimes those in power can provide the illusion that they are listening to our concerns. Just the mere suggestion that we are being listened to – even if we know that we cannot influence the outcome – will decrease our motivation to protest.” So much for the fairness of the office feedback box!

Dr Osborne says that his work reveals just how difficult it is for people to get to the point where they think ‘enough is enough’. “People do eventually reach a tipping point – sometimes all it takes is for one person to stand up and say they’ve had enough.”

And our emotional reaction to injustice is key: “People can perceive that their group has been mistreated, but if that perception elicits fear instead of anger, people will retreat from social protest,” explains Danny. “Once we overcome these barriers, then we can identify the ‘tipping point’.” 

As well as his close collaboration with Professor Chris Sibley on the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (a longitudinal study examining changes in New Zealanders’ attitudes to a range of social and economic issues over time), Dr Osborne is an advisory board member of the Vote Compass project, an online voter education tool available during the previous two general elections. 

New Zealand is no stranger to political protests, and, while some of us may be surprised at the outcome of our recent General Election, no one is taking collective action. Dr Osborne believes that, on the whole, MMP is fair and “allows for an arguably more diverse discourse than is afforded by FPP voting systems” and he is hopeful about the future of New Zealand. 

“I’m hopeful that we have a progressive Government who is committed to fighting inequality, has a strong plan for tertiary education and who is on the side of environmental protection.”

When asked what individuals can do in the face of injustice, Dr Osborne says that although most of his work focuses on how groups can work together to create change, individual efforts can – and often do – feed into collective action.

“Easy things like voting for the candidate or party who best reflects your own views of what a fair society should look like is one important step we can all make.

“The day-to-day decisions that we, as individuals, make can have a huge impact. In the long run, choosing to take public transport, buying local and so on really can improve our local surroundings and make the world a better place.”

From Most Valuable Player in his high school football team (yes, really!) to the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study and Vote Compass, Dr Osborne’s growing list of projects and accolades shows no sign of slowing down. 

In 2016, Danny received the Faculty of Science Dean’s Award for Sustained Excellence in Teach-ing and, in 2015, he received the Early Career Research Excellence Award from the University of Auckland. In 2015, he also received the Early Career Research Excellence Award from the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, and gave a keynote lecture at its 2015 conference – we’re sure it was music to the delegates’ ears!

While Dr Osborne would advise his younger self against applying to join the US Air Force (“That [advice] would have saved a lot of grief!”), he recommends reading more books on statistics and political psychology: “You can never know enough!” he says. 

“I’m delighted and honoured to receive this inaugural award and the support it provides for my work, helping to increase our understanding of how we might make the world a fairer, more equitable place.”