Labels are certainly not new to collective political action, but classifications like abolitionist, populist, suffragette, unionist, or socialist all referenced specific contents. These labels were often polarizing, but each polarization constituted its own contest of meaning in the popular imagination. Activist, on the other hand, is an apparently “content-less” label that now traverses political issues and social movements. Negative general stereotypes about activists deter popular support for particular political projects and can even negatively impact people’s opinions about a given
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