Relinquishing dominant privilege: A study of feminist men

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Abstract
This research examines the question of why individuals in dominant groups may participate in social movement organizations that seemingly undermine their dominant privilege. The political solidarity model of social movement recruitment (Hirsch 1990) is applied to men who participate in the women's movement. This model suggests that the group processes of consciousness‐raising, polarization, and collective empowerment influence an individual's commitment to movement ideology and action decisions. Interviews of the feminist men revealed that these processes may also be useful in explaining how members of an oppositional group may become supporters of a movement. These findings reveal the complex social nature of the development of grievances and movement activism and how these group processes affect individual decisions.