Economic Crisis and Popular Protest in Iceland, January 2009: The Role of Perceived Economic Loss and Political Attitudes in Protest Participation and Support*

Abstract

The recent wave of protest associated with the global financial crisis provides opportunity to examine the link between economic crisis and collective action in the context of affluent democratic society. I study the mobilization of individual citizens in one of the first of these protests occurring in Iceland in January 2009. Using a survey representing the adult population of the Reykjavík area (N = 610), I examine the role of perceived economic loss and political attitudes in protest behavior (controlling for biographical availability). I find that perceived financial loss predicts both protest participation and support, but only if individuals believe their losses to be greater than the losses of others. Moreover, political attitudes congruent with the political opportunities emerging in the crisis (and the resulting collective action framing)—that is, having a left-wing political attitude and belief in extensive corruption— predict protest participation and support.