The Centrality of the Collective: Sustaining Activism through Community, Integrity, and Nurture and Care

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2012
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Haverford College. Department of Religion
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
Activist burnout, a state of emotional exhaustion that causes previously committed individuals to disengage from social action, should be a central concern for those interested in sustaining healthy activism over time. My study of social movement theory, ethnographic research at the Casa de los Amigos, and examination of Quaker social witness as a highly effective model of sustainable activism has produced a model that attempts to address the problem of activist burnout. An effective model of sustainable activism will center around the utilization of the activists’ community as key in providing the accountability, social ties, and structures of emotional, spiritual, and practical support necessary to ensure a positive exchange relationship between the individual and the work of activism. If activist communities can capitalize on the strengths that groups naturally accrue, and make further intentional efforts to offer support to its members, they will more effectively maintain individual commitment and healthy involvement in social action.
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