Representational Hierarchies in Social Movements: A Case Study of the Undocumented Immigrant Youth Movement

Abstract

During the late 2010s, the undocumented immigrant youth movement embraced inclusive and intersectional representations. Directly impacted activists deconstructed language and symbolic categories that excluded. However, their movement continued to stratify activists along representational lines. This article combines theories of intersectionality and symbolic power to develop the concept of “representational hierarchy.” Producing representations requires legitimacy, and the resources needed for legitimacy (i.e., symbolic capital) are unevenly distributed to activists. Activists in possession of these resources can rise to the top and exert control over the means of representation. Dominant activists enforce representations and their positioning through coercive (“calling out”) and consensual (“calling in”) mechanisms. Our project employs ethnographic data from two periods of investigation: 2011–12 and 2018. The data include interviews with new and experienced activists, analysis of movement documents, and 400 hours of participant observations. For this specific article, we draw mostly on interviews conducted in 2018.