How Do We Keep Going? Activist Burnout and Personal Sustainability in Social Movements

Activism, burn out and stress – The impacts of burnout and strategies for preventing it, on a personal, organisational and movement level.

Contents

Introduction

Burnout is the act of involuntarily leaving activism, or reducing one’s level of activism… When an activist burns out, she typically derails her career and damages her self-esteem and relationships. She also deprives her organization and movement of her valuable experience and wisdom. The worst problem, however, may be that when an activist burns out she deprives younger activists of a mentor, thus making them more likely to burn out… (Hilary Rettig, The lifelong activist; 2006: 16)

Drawing upon and comparing numerous studies and guides, activist scholar Laurence Cox investigates the nature of personal sustainability in movements for social change. He locates the causes of burnout in factors ranging from overwork to repression as well as societal and movement culture. The impacts of burnout and strategies for preventing it, on a personal, organisational and movement level, are explored. Overall, this detailed but highly readable paper, available for download below, probes a number of issues regarding the nature of activism and ways in which it can be made more effective.

Personal sustainability in social movements is a huge and complex topic, but one which is immediately important to many participants, both in terms of keeping going themselves and of supporting their fellow-activists and preventing burnout. – Laurence Cox, 2010

What is burnout? 4
The stress process 4
Burnout: process and results 6
Post-traumatic stress reactions 7
Does action make a difference? 8
Activist burnout 10
Activism and the big picture 11
Repression and secondary traumatisation 12
The activist “workplace”: overwork, urgency, conflicts 14
Movement culture 14
Lack of visible results and acknowledgement 16
Isolation, incorporation and sectarianism 17
Lack of self-care 17
Responsibility and burnout 19
Particular manifestations of burnout in activists 19
Burnout and movement exit 20
Who burns out? 21
Activist burnout: some thoughts 22
Strategies for tackling activist burnout 23
Naming the problem: individual and collective awareness 24
Personal strategy 24
Organisational strategies 29
Just stopping 33
Change and rethinking 34
Activism as rich, joyful, constructive 35
Conclusion 36
References 38

About the Author

Laurence Cox is a writer, activist and teacher working with social movements in Ireland and globally. He has been involved in a wide range of struggles in various countries since the 1980s, including ecological activism, international solidarity, human rights and organising against repression, antiwar movements, community activism, radical media, self-organised spaces, alternative education and the alter-globalisation “movement of movements”. Laurence co-founded and co-edits the activist/academic social movements journal Interface (https://interfacejournal.net) and Pluto Press’ Social Movements / Activist Research book series. He’s involved in the Ulex social movement training project and Associate Professor in Sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, where he researches struggles for a better world. His books include The Irish Buddhist: the Forgotten Monk who Faced Down the British Empire; Why Social Movements Matter; and We Make Our Own History: Marxism and Social Movements in the Twilight of Neoliberalism. Most of his other writing is available free.