Emotions in Politics

Since the very earliest stages of Western political thought, reason and emotion have been placed in opposition to one another. Whilst reason and rational logic have dominated most political research, an expanding literature in political psychology in recent decades has shown that emotions can also shape people’s attention, decision-making, attitudes and action in the political realm. At the same time, politics can be exhausting. It can require what has been termed ‘emotional labour’ – the management of one’s outward display of emotions to achieve particular goals or facilitate cooperation in a particular setting. Nowhere is this more obvious than amongst those who actually hold political office. The following texts introduce various streams of research on emotions in politics.

Introduction to the topic:

Brader, T., and Marcus, G.E. (2013). Emotion and Political Psychology. In L. Huddy, D. Sears, and J. Levy (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 165-204.

Category 1: Theories of emotion and social science research. 

Barbalet, J. (1998). Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure: A Macrosociological Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Especially chapter 2.

Marcus, G., Neuman, W., and MacKuen, M. (2017). Measuring Emotional Response: Comparing Alternative Approaches to Measurement. Political Science Research and Methods, Vol. 5(4): 733-754.

Category 2: Emotion and political participation.

Just, M., Crigler, A., and Belt, T. (2007). Don't Give Up Hope: Emotions, Candidate Appraisals, and Votes. In: The Affect Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Political Thinking and Behaviour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Parker, M. T., and Isbell, L. M. (2010). How I Vote Depends on How I Feel: The Differential Impact of Anger and Fear on Political Information Processing. Psychological Science, Vol. 21(4): 548–550.

Jasper, J. (2011). Emotions and Social Movements: Twenty Years of Theory and Research. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 37(1): 285-303.

Valentino, N., Brader, T., Groenendyk, E., Gregorowicz, K., and Hutchings, V. (2011). Election Night’s Alright for Fighting: The Role of Emotions in Political Participation. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 73(1): 156-170.

Flinders, M. (2020). Why feelings trump facts: anti-politics, citizenship and emotion. Emotion and Society, Vol. 2(1): 21-40.

Category 3: Emotion and campaigning.

Brader, T. (2005). Striking a Responsive Chord: How Political Ads Motivate and Persuade Voters by Appealing to Emotions. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 49(2): 388-405.

Ridout, T.N. and Searles, K. (2011). It's My Campaign I'll Cry if I Want to: How and When Campaigns Use Emotional Appeals. Political Psychology, Vol. 32: 439-458.

Breeze, R. (2019). Emotion in politics: Affective-discursive practices in UKIP and Labour. Discourse & Society, Vol. 30(1): 24–43.

Category 4: Emotion and political attitudes.

Conover, P., and Feldman, S. (1986). Emotional Reactions to the Economy: I'm Mad as Hell and I'm not Going to Take it Anymore. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 30(1): 50-78.

Huddy, L., Feldman, S., and Cassese, E. (2007). On the Distinct Political Effects of Anxiety and Anger. In Stanley, F., and Erin, C. (Eds.), The Affect Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Political Thinking and Behaviour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D.A., and Bloom, P. (2009). Conservatives are more easily disgusted than liberals. Cognition and Emotion, Vol. 23(4): 714-725.

Edwards, G., Jacobs, L., Shapiro, R., Brader, T., Marcus, G., & Miller, K. (2011). Emotion and Public Opinion. In: The Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hochschild, A.R. (2016). Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. The New Press, New York.

Category 5: Emotions and political leadership.

Lupia, A., and Menning, J. (2009). When Can Politicians Scare Citizens into Supporting Bad Policies? American Journal of Political Science, 53(1): 90-106.

Newman, M., Guy, M., and Mastracci, S. (2009). Beyond Cognition: Affective Leadership and Emotional Labour. Public Administration Review, Vol. 69(1): 6-20. 

Weinberg, J. (2020). Emotional Labour and Occupational Wellbeing in Political Office. British Journal of Politics and International Relations.