How does the study of emotions help us understand engaging in or abstaining from violent and illegal political behaviors in the context of the Eurozone economic crisis? This question sits at the core of our article. We focus particularly on anger, fear, and hope hypothesizing that combined with perceptions of self-efficacy, these emotions fuse in complex affective blends of resentful or ressentiment-ful affectivity, which in turn determine the path of citizens’ political engagement. We test this using data from a three-wave cross-sectional survey from Greece, which contains measures of emotions and unique items of engagement with illegal and violent political actions. We show that such behaviors rest on complex clusters of resentful affectivity pointing to particular actions and reactions. Our theoretical and empirical framework can be useful for understanding political developments outside Greece manifested as grievances, anti-immigration demands, anti-establishment sentiment, anti-expert skepticism, and support for populist parties, extending previous theoretical and empirical work, which currently employ discrete measures of emotions.
BallDonald W.1964. “Covert Political Rebellion as Ressentiment.” Social Forces43(1):93–101.
4.
Bar-TalDanielHalperinEranRiveraJoseph de. 2007. “Collective Emotions in Conflict Situations: Societal Implications.” Journal of Social Issues63(2):441–60.
5.
BarbaletJack. 1998. Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure. A Macrosociological Approach. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
6.
Ben-Ze’evAaron. 2000. The Subtlety of Emotions. Cambridge: MIT Press.
7.
BenskiTovaLangmanLauren. 2013. “The Effects of Affects: The Place of Emotions in the Mobilizations of 2011.” Current Sociology61(4):525–40.
8.
CampbellAngusGurinGeraldMillerWarren E.1954. The Voter Decides. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.
9.
CapelosTereza. 2013. “Understanding Anxiety and Aversion: The Origins and Consequences of Affectivity in Political Campaigns.” Pp. 39–59 in Emotions in Politics: The Affect Dimension in Political Tension, edited byDemertzisNicolas. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
10.
CapelosTerezaExadaktylosTheofanis. 2017. “Feeling the Pulse of the Greek Debt Crisis: Affect on the Web of Blame.” National Identities19(1):73–90.
11.
CapelosTerezaKatsanidouAlexiaDemertzisNicolas. 2017. “Back to Black: Values, Ideology and the Black Box of Political Radicalization.” Science and Society35:35–68.
12.
CapelosTerezaExadaktylosTheofanisChronaStavroulaPoulopoulouMaria. 2018. “The Emotional Economy of the European Financial Crisis in the UK Press.” International Journal of Communication, Special issue on News Media and the Emotional Public Sphere, 12, 2088–113.
13.
CastellsManuel. 2012. Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
14.
ChalariAthanasia. 2014. “Re-organizing Everyday Greek Social Reality: Subjective Experiences of the Greek Crisis.” Pp. 160–76 in The Politics of Extreme Austerity: Greece beyond the Crisis, edited byKaryotisGeorgiosGerodimosRoman. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
15.
CrozierMichel. 1970. La Société Bloquée. Paris, France: Éditions du Seuil.
16.
DavouBettinaDemertzisNicolas. 2013. “Feeling the Greek Financial Crisis.” Pp. 93–123 in Emotions in Politics. The Affect Dimension in Political Tension, edited byDemertzisNicolas. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
17.
DemertzisNicolas. 2004. “Populism and Ressentiment. A Contribution of the (Political) Sociology of Emotions.” Science and Society12:75–114.
18.
DemertzisNicolas. 2006. “Emotions and Populism.” Pp. 103–22 in Emotion, Politics and Society, edited byClarkeSimonHoggettPaulThompsonSimon. London, England: Palgrave.
19.
DemertzisNicolas. 2014. “Political Emotions.” Pp. 223–41 in The Palgrave Handbook of Global Political Psychology, edited byNesbitt-LarkingPaulKinvallCatarinaCapelosTereza. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
20.
DinasEliasRoriLamprini. 2013. “The 2012 Greek Parliamentary Elections: Fear and Loathing in Polls.” West European Politics36(1):270–82.
21.
DostoyevskyFyodor. [1864] 2000. Notes from the Underground. Athens, Greece: Govostis.
22.
FeatherstoneKevin. 2011. “The Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis and EMU: A Failing State in a Skewed Regime.” Journal of Common Market Studies49(2):193–217.
23.
FerroMarc. 2010. Resentment in History. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
24.
FrijdaNico. H.2004. “Emotion and Action.” Pp. 158–173 in Feelings and Emotions: The Amsterdam Symposium, edited by MansteadAntony S. R.FrijdaNicoFischerAgneta. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
25.
GamsonWilliam. A.1992. Talking Politics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
26.
GarryJohn. 2014. “Emotions and Voting in EU Referendums.” European Union Politics15(2):235–54.
27.
GiddensAnthony. 2007. Europe in the Global Age. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
28.
HuddyLeonieFeldmanStanleyCapelosTerezaProvostColin. 2002. “The Consequences of Terrorism: Disentangling the Effects of Personal and National Threat.” Political Psychology23:485–509.
29.
HuddyLeonieFeldmanStanleyTaberCharlesLahavGallya. 2005. “Threat, Anxiety, and Support of Antiterrorism Policies.” American Journal of Political Science49(3):593–608.
30.
InglehartRonald. 1977. The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Stereotypes among Western Publics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
31.
IzardCarroll Ellis. 1972. Patterns of Emotions: A New Analysis of Anxiety and Depression. New York: Academic Press.
32.
KaaseMaxMarshAlan. 1979. “Political Action. A Theoretical Perspective.” Pp. 27–56 in Political Action. Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies, edited byBarnesSamuel H.KaaseMax. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
33.
KeaneJohn. 2009. The Life and Death of Democracy. London, England: Simon and Schuster.
34.
KemperTheodore. 1990. “Social Relations and Emotions: A Structural Approach.” Pp. 207–37 in Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions, edited byKemperTheodore. New York: State University of New York Press.
35.
KennyMichael H.2017. “Back to the Populist Future? Understanding Nostalgia in Contemporary Ideological Discourse.” Journal of Political Ideologies22(3):256–73.
36.
KonstantinidisIoannisZafiropoulosKostasGeorgiadouVassilikiDemertzisNicolasCapelosTereza. 2015. Political & Social Radicalism in Greece: First Round, Second Round, Third Round. GESIS Datenarchiv. Mannheim, Germany: Datensatz.
37.
LeónRamonRomeroCeciliaNovaraJoaquinQuesadaEnrique. 1988. “Una Escala Para Medir el Resentimiento.” Revista Latinoamericana Psicología20(3):331–54.
38.
LernerJennifer S.GonzalezRoxana M.SmallDeborah A.FischhoffBaruch. 2003. “Effects of Fear and Anger on Perceived Risks of Terrorism: A National Field Experiment.” Psychological Science14(2):144–50.
39.
LevineDavid P.2018. Dark Fantasy. Regressive Movements and the Search for Meaning in Politics. London, England: Karnac.
40.
Magni, G. 2017. “It’s the Emotions, Stupid! Anger about the Economic Crisis, Low Political Efficacy, and Support for Populist Parties.” Electoral Studies50:91–102.
41.
MarcusGeorge, E.2002. The Sentimental Citizen. Emotion in Democratic Politics. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
42.
MooreBarrington. 1978. Injustice. The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt. New York: MacMillan.
43.
MorunoDolores Martin. 2013. “Introduction. On Resentment: Past and Present of an Emotion.” Pp. 1–18 in On Resentment: Past and Present, edited by FantiniBernardinoMorunoDolores MartinMoscosoJavier. Newcastle, England: Cambridge Scholars.
44.
NiemiRichard G.CraigStephen C.MatteiFranco. 1991. “Measuring Internal Political Efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study.” American Political Science Review85(4):1407–13.
45.
NietzscheFriedrich. [1887] 1994. On the Genealogy of Morality. Translated byDeitheCarol. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
NorrisPippa. 2002. Democratic Phoenix: Reinventing Political Activism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
48.
OttatiVictor C.WyerRobert S.1993. “Affect and political judgment.” Pp. 296–320 in Explorations in Political Psychology, edited byIyengarShantoMcGuireWilliam J.Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
49.
RawlsJohn. [1971] 1991. A Theory of Justice. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
50.
RüdigWolfgangKaryotisGeorgios. 2014. “Who Protests in Greece? Mass Opposition to Austerity.” British Journal of Political Science44(3):487–513.
51.
SalmelaMikkoScheveChristian von. 2017. “Emotional Roots of Right-wing Political Populism.” Social Science Information56(4):567–95.
52.
SchelerMax. [1913] 1994. Ressentiment. Ashland, OH: Marquette University Press.
53.
SchiemanScott. 2006. “Anger.” Pp. 493–515 in Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, edited byStetsJanTurnerJonathan. New York: Springer.
54.
SchudsonMichael. 1999. The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
55.
SchwartzShalom H.CapraraGian VittorioVecchioneMichele. 2010. “Basic Personal Values, Core Political Values, and Voting: A Longitudinal Analysis.” Political Psychology31(3):421–52.
56.
SearsDavid O.1993. “Symbolic Politics: A Socio-psychological Theory.” Pp. 113–149 in Explorations in Political Psychology, edited by IyengarShantoMcGuireWilliam J.Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
57.
StrawsonPeter Frederick. 1974. Freedom and Resentment and Other Essays. London, England: Methuen.
58.
SullivanGavin B.StrongmanKenneth T.2003. “Vacillating and Mixed Emotions: A Conceptual-discursive Perspective on Contemporary Emotion and Cognitive Appraisal Theories through Examples of Pride.” Journal of the Theory of Social Behavior33(2):203–26.
59.
ThagardPaul. 2012. The Cognitive Science of Science: Explanation, Discovery, and Conceptual Change. Cambridge: MIT Press.
60.
ThammRobert. 2004. “Towards a Universal Power and Status Theory of Emotion.” Advances in Group Processes21:221–49.
61.
TenenbaumHarrietCapelosTerezaLorimerJessicaStocksThomas. 2018. “Positive Thinking Elevates Tolerance: Experimental Effects of Happiness on Adolescents’ Attitudes towards Asylum Seekers.” Special Edition on “Refugees, Unaccompanied Minors, Asylum Seekers and Their Families.” Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry23(2):346–57.
62.
TenHoutenWarren D.2007. A General Theory of Emotions and Social Life. London, England: Routledge.
63.
Van TroostDunyavan StekeleburgJacquelineKlandermansBert. 2013. “Emotions of Protest.” in Emotions in Politics. The Affect Dimension in Political Tension, edited by DemertzisNicolas. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
64.
ValentinoNicholas A.BraderTedGroenendykEric W.GregorowiczKryshaHutchingsCincent L.2011. “Election Night’s Alright for Fighting: The Role of Emotions in Political Participation.” Journal of Politics73(1):156–70.
65.
VasilopoulouSofiaWagnerMarkus. 2017. “Fear, Anger and Enthusiasm about the European Union: Effects of Emotional Reactions on Public Preferences towards European Integration.” European Union Politics18(3):382–405.
66.
VerbaSidneyScholzmanKay LehmanBradyHenry. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, England: Harvard University Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
