What’s radical? Comparing how climate activists and the general public perceive social movement tactics

Abstract As the climate crisis worsens, activists have employed a wide range of tactics to draw attention to the issue. This paper explores how perspectives on a diversity of social movement tactics—from mainstream methods of political engagement to violent mutiny—vary between members of the general public and climate activists. We compare findings from surveys with a nationally representative sample of 1000 US adults and 306 climate activists that were conducted over the same time period in fall 2024. Our results show substantial differences in the degree to which various tactics are perceived as radical: activists tended to perceive peaceful, non-disruptive forms of protest as significantly less radical than the general public, but viewed civil disobedience, illegal, and violent tactics to be significantly more radical than the general public. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings and providing some potential directions for future research.