Must Causes Compromise to Move the Undecided?

Social Movement Trend Series, Part 1

Is your movement feeling good because seemingly “everyone” supports your side of an issue??

If so, you may be concentrating too much on reinforcing support among those who are already (or mostly) persuaded.?

It’s true you cannot ignore your base. But if those are the only people you focus on, you are missing the audience that holds the real power you seek: the people in the middle who want a little bit less than what you may be endorsing.?

The key question is this: Is your organization willing and ready to compromise enough to win their support? And the second key question: If so, where in the middle are you willing to meet them?

Every hotly debated social issue has believers at both ends of a spectrum. Take abortion, for example. According to Pew Research, though the majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal, half would stipulate certain circumstances for the procedure. The people in between the “always legal” and “never legal” sides represent the moveable middle. In this example, they are people who haven’t made up their minds on this issue, don’t base all of their support for candidates primarily on this issue, believe in abortion access but are hesitant to vocalize it for political reasons, etc. If you’re in the pro-choice movement, what compromises can you make to appeal to these individuals??

Gun safety is similar. The majority of American adults―even many gun owners―told the Ad Council Research Institute that gun violence is one of their top concerns and believe it will worsen over the next five years. One of the most visible causes in this space, March For Our Lives, reaches out to people who don’t want to give up their guns but recognize the need to act (the middle) by advocating for universal background checks and safe storage regulations―compromising, in their words, with these “relatively low bars” to “ensure responsible gun ownership.” MFOL identified a milestone achievement toward their ultimate goal by asking one question: What are we all fighting for that we can achieve together in the near future??

This kind of examination unearths areas of potential compromise that bring people together.

A journey of persuasion

Even when your movement decides it can and will offer alternatives to all-out support, convincing people to move with you is going to require a journey of persuasion. You cannot afford to operate within the narrow confines of an absolutist or extreme view, at least at the beginning. To change minds, your movement must simultaneously move toward the middle and shift the middle toward you. This means starting from point A (a moderate position), and moving individuals to point B (becoming supporters) through:

• diligence,?
• compromise and?
• trust.?

Before you say, “Derrick, we will never compromise!” consider what Adam Smith, professor of Politics and Political History at Oxford University, says about compromise. He calls it “the most ambivalent concept in modern politics. It can be [seen as] a virtue or a sin; one person’s compromise is another’s sell-out.” He makes the case that political compromise is integral to social change and quotes Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff: “Knowing the difference between a good and a bad compromise is more important in politics than holding onto pure principle at any price.”?

Good compromising holds many benefits in the social movement space:

• Compromise allows everyone to build more knowledge. The base can gain a better understanding of non-activists’ viewpoints. The more you do, the more perspective you gain.
• Compromise allows a movement to share its reasoning for a position―its empathetic understanding of the people affected by your issue.
• Compromise can show vulnerability and trustworthiness. In Compromise in an Age of Party Polarization, Jennifer Wolak states, “Americans value compromise as a way to resolve differences in times of partisan division. … Across a range of settings, people's support for compromise persists even when it comes at the cost of partisan goals and policy objectives.” (Oxford University Press)
• Compromise demonstrates a willingness to be inclusive. We broaden our base by welcoming people in, listening to all viewpoints with respect and dignity so we can better understand them.?
• Compromise can expand a movement’s base by welcoming people who only partially support your aims. Ultimately, this increase is necessary for policy or systems change.

To be a persuasive tool, however, even compromise takes diligence and trust. As I said above, the effort to move the middle is a journey. Will you bring in big donors or lifelong supporters? Probably not. But the force they will add to your movement as a collective will be powerful. They’ll be joining you because you are giving them the opportunity to make the difference they have yearned to make.

A caution about rhetoric

Since we’re on the topic of persuasion, I have to share a few words of caution about the use of rhetoric and its effect on the people in the middle you’re trying to reach. Rhetoric around homelessness, for example, can leave the general public feeling lost and confused. As author Melanie Loehwing writes, “While conventional homeless advocacy rhetoric establishes the urgency of homeless suffering, it also implicitly invites housed publics to understand homelessness as a state of abnormality that destines the individuals suffering it to life outside the civic body.” Such a feeling leaves the public uncertain about what to do … and so they disengage.

Climate change is similar, bombarding the public with conflicting statements from ‘climate change is a hoax.’ to ‘it’s the most serious threat to humankind.’ Again, people in the middle are left reeling from such dramatically different positions. They don’t know what to think and decide they don’t want to join either “extremist” camp. (See study on the effects of fear in rhetoric.)?

My point is that rhetoric may sound like a good idea, especially when backed by verifiable statistics and scientific data, but that’s not always the case.

In my next article in this series, we will walk through how to create a journey of persuasion by looking at one organization in depth.