Emotional Responses to State Repression Predict Collective Climate Action Intentions

As climate activism has expanded in recent years, governments have increasingly repressed disruptive but non-violent protests. Yet evidence remains mixed regarding whether repression inhibits or galvanizes activism. In this study, we examine how anticipated and experienced repression predict intentions to engage in normative (rule-conforming) and non-normative (rule-violating) collective climate action, over and above past activism and core psychological antecedents. Survey data from Extinction Rebellion UK mailing-list subscribers (N = 1,375) showed that experienced repression positively predicted non-normative action intentions, and showed a positive indirect predictive effect on non-normative action via reduced fear. Although anticipated repression was not directly associated with either action type, it had positive indirect predictive effects on both action types via anger/outrage, and on non-normative action via contempt. Conversely, it also had a negative indirect predictive effect on non-normative action through heightened fear. These findings predominantly reflect a galvanizing effect of repression on disruptive collective climate action among committed activists.