performative activism

Meaning

Activism done to increase one's social capital, status, or popularity rather than out of genuine devotion to a cause. It is characterized by superficial gestures—like posting hashtags or changing profile pictures—without taking any real, impactful action.

Examples

• Critics accused the brand of performative activism when they released a pride t-shirt but refused to donate profits to LGBTQ+ charities.

  Critics accused the brand of performative activism when they released a pride t-shirt but refused to donate profits to LGBTQ+ charities.

• Sharing a trending hashtag without educating yourself on the issue is just performative activism.

  Sharing a trending hashtag without educating yourself on the issue is just performative activism.

• She wanted to avoid performative activism, so she decided to quietly volunteer at the local food bank instead of posting about it online.

  She wanted to avoid performative activism, so she decided to quietly volunteer at the local food bank instead of posting about it online.

• The university's statement on diversity felt like performative activism because they still lacked minority representation on the board.

  The university's statement on diversity felt like performative activism because they still lacked minority representation on the board.

• In the digital age, it is incredibly easy to fall into the trap of performative activism because clicktivism requires so little effort.

  In the digital age, it is incredibly easy to fall into the trap of performative activism because clicktivism requires so little effort.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ He did a performative activism on his account.

  ✓ He engaged in performative activism on his account.

  'Activism' is an uncountable noun. You cannot do 'a' performative activism; you 'engage in' or 'participate in' it.

• ✗ They are performative activisms.

  ✓ Their actions are performative.

  Do not pluralize 'activism'. If referring to multiple actions, describe them as 'performative' or state that they 'amount to performative activism'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Many people criticize social media challenges as ___ because they rarely lead to systemic change.

  💡 A term for superficial, showy support of a political movement.

  Show answer

  performative activism

• If you want to avoid ___, make sure your public statements are backed by concrete donations or volunteer work.

  💡 Noun phrase starting with 'p'.

  Show answer

  performative activism