Engaging in protest: Lessons from the autobiographies of M. K. Gandhi, N. Mandela and M. L. King

This paper aims to provide a contribution towards understanding how and why certain people are able to engage in protest and civic actions, overcome unjust situations, and withstand persecutions deployed by authority. This paper presents a hermeneutic content analysis of the autobiographical speeches and texts of Gandhi, M. L. King and Mandela. Our results show that the importance given to parents’ value orientation, experiences of injustice during childhood and exploration of alternative viewpoints during adolescent plays a crucial role in structuring prosocial disobedience. Our findings show also that social responsibility and ingroup communication are important conditions for facing persecution without forsaking original goals.