This paper examines the interplay between emotions and situated contexts in sustained social movement participation. Expanding on previous research focused on evolving emotions during protests, I explore movement contexts and emotions that persist after such visible activities. Through in-depth interviews with family members in South Korea who engaged in activism after sudden losses in various disasters, this paper traces how emotions evolve to sustain activism as contextual shifts occur. Three situated contexts are identified, each linked to situational emotions: guilt, gratitude, and a sense of obligation. A sense of indebtedness runs across the contexts in connection with each corresponding situational emotion. Initially, bereaved families grapple with guilt for failing to prevent the losses and become determined to address the systemic causes. As they engage in collective actions, support from allies heightens gratitude, fueling further engagement. Lastly, a sense of obligation toward the public to forestall similar incidents emerges, referred to as the victims’ sense of social indebtedness, sustaining prolonged engagement.
Al’UqdahShareefahAdomakoFrances. 2018. “From Mourning to Action: African American Women’s Grief, Pain, and Activism.” Journal of Loss and Trauma23(2):91–98.
4.
AminzadeRonMcAdamDoug. 2002. “Emotions and Contentious Politics.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly7(2):107–109.
5.
AsareGrace OwusuAnnorFrancisYendorkJoana Salifu. 2022. “‘It Is Not Something You Can Easily Forget’: Ghanaian Parents’ Experiences of Child Loss.” Omega: Journal of Death and Dying86(2):644–67.
6.
AzabMarianSantoroWayne A.2017. “Rethinking Fear and Protest: Racialized Repression of Arab Americans and the Mobilization Benefits of Being Afraid.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly22(4): 473–91.
7.
Bayard de VoloLorraine. 2001. Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs: Gender Identity Politics in Nicaragua, 1979-1999. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
8.
Bayard de VoloLorraine. 2006. “The Dynamics of Emotion and Activism: Grief, Gender, and Collective Identity in Revolutionary Nicaragua.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly11(4):461–74.
9.
BejaranoCynthia L.2002. “Las Super Madres de Latino America: Transforming Motherhood by Challenging Violence in Mexico, Argentina, and El Salvador.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies23(1):126–50.
10.
BoscoFernando J.2006. “The Madres de Plaza de Mayo and Three Decades of Human Rights’ Activism: Embeddedness, Emotions, and Social Movements.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers96(2):342–65.
11.
BouvardMarguerite Guzman. 1994. Revolutionizing Motherhood: The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources.
12.
BrownGavinPickerillJenny. 2009. “Space for Emotion in the Spaces of Activism.” Emotion, Space and Society2(1):24–35.
13.
CacciatoreJoanne. 2010. “The Unique Experiences of Women and Their Families after the Death of a Baby.” Social Work in Health Care49(2):134–48.
14.
CharmazKathyMilliganMelinda J.2006. “Grief.” Pp. 516–43 in Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, edited by StetsJ. E.TurnerJ. H.New York: Springer.
15.
CheonJung-Hwan.2019. “Untimely Death and Martyrdom after May 1980: Suicide in the South Korean Democracy Movement Seen through the Case of Pak Sunghui.” Pp. 231–59 in Beyond Death: The Politics of Suicide & Martyrdom in Korea, edited by KimC. R.KimJ.NamH.SuhS.-B.Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
16.
Cho (Han)Haejoang. 2017. “National Subjects, Citizens and Refugees: Thoughts on the Politics of Survival, Violence, and Mourning Following the Sewol Ferry Disaster in South Korea.” Pp. 167–96 in New Worlds from Below: Informal Life Politics and Grassroots Action in Twenty-First-Century Northeast Asia, edited by Morris-SuzukiT.SohE. J.ANU Press.
17.
Corrigall-BrownCatherine. 2012. Patterns of Protest: Trajectories of Participation in Social Movements. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
18.
Corrigall-BrownCatherine. 2013. “Disengagement in Social Movements.” Pp. 1–4 in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, edited by SnowD. A.della PortaD.KlandermansB.McAdamD.Malden, MA: Wiley.
19.
DeGlomaThomas. 2014. Seeing the Light: The Social Logic of Personal Discovery. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
20.
El-EnanyNadine. 2023. “From Love to Justice: Families’ Interrogation of Racial State Violence.” Social and Legal Studies32(1):55–74.
21.
EllefsenRuneSandbergSveinung. 2022. “Black Lives Matter: The Role of Emotions in Political Engagement.” Sociology56(6):1103–1120.
22.
Eunyu. 2019. Alji Mot’anŭn Aiŭi Chugŭm [The Death of an Unknown Child]. Paju: Dolbegae.
23.
EyreAnneDixPam. 2014. Collective Conviction. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
24.
FlamHelena. 2013. “Politics of Grief and Grieving ‘Mothers’ Movements.” in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, edited by SnowD. A.Della PortaD.KlandermansB.McAdamD.Malden, MA: Wiley.
25.
FlamHelena. 2015. “Micromobilization and Emotions.” in The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements, edited by Della PortaD.DianiM.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
26.
FlamHelenaKingDebra, eds. 2005. Emotions and Social Movements. London: Routledge.
27.
GjeraldOlgaEslen-ZiyaHande. 2022. “From Discontent to Action: #quarantinehotel as Not Just a Hashtag.” Cogent Social Sciences8(1):1–20.
28.
GoodwinJeffJasperJames M.PollettaFrancesca. 2000. “The Return of the Repressed: The Fall and Rise of Emotions in Social Movement Theory.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly5(1):65–83.
29.
JeffGoodwinJasperJames M.PollettaFrancesca, eds. 2001. Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
30.
GoodwinJeffJasperJames M.PollettaFrancesca. 2004. “Emotional Dimensions of Social Movements.” Pp. 413–32 in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, edited by SnowD. A.SouleS. A.KriesiH.Malden, MA: Blackwell.
31.
GouldDeborah B.2002. “Life during Wartime: Emotions and the Development of Act Up.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly7(2):177–200.
32.
GrovesJulian McAllister. 2001. “Animal Rights and the Politics of Emotion: Folk Constructs of Emotions in the Animal Rights Movement.” Pp. 212–29 in Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements, edited by GoodwinJ.JasperJ. M.PollettaF.Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
33.
GunaratnamYasmin. 2021. “‘Not in My Name’: Empathy and Intimacy in Volunteer Refugee Hosting.” Journal of Sociology57(3):707–24.
34.
HeoHojoon. 2021. “Kogyosilssŭpsaeng Hyŏnjanganjŏn ‘Mŏn’gil’. ‘Minhoga Namgin Sukche Kkok P’ulgŏmnida.’ [Student Externs’ Field Safety ‘Afar.’. ‘I Will Certainly Solve the Assignment Minho Has Left.’].” The Hankyoreh, June8. https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/area/jeju/998394.html
35.
HochschildArlie. 1979. “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology85(3):551–75.
36.
JasperJames M.1997. The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements. Vol. 77. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
37.
JasperJames M.1998. “The Emotions of Protest: Affective and Reactive Emotions in and around Social Movements.” Sociological Forum13(3):397–424.
JasperJames M.2018. The Emotions of Protest. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
40.
JasperJames M.PoulsenJane D.1995. “Recruiting Strangers and Friends: Moral Shocks and Social Networks in Animal Rights and Anti-nuclear Protests.” Social Problems42(4):493–512.
41.
JeonJiyeolShinJiyoungChoiJoonSupLimJeong HanLeeDong Hun. 2019. “Sewŏrho Chaenanŭro Chanyŏrŭl Irhŭn Pumoŭi Aedo Kwajŏnge Taehan Kŭn’gŏiron Yŏn’gu [A Grounded Theory Study of the Grieving Process of Bereaved Parents after the Sewol Ferry Disaster].” Korean Journal of Counseling and Psychotherapy31(1):1–48.
42.
KimHyojoung. 2002. “Shame, Anger, and Love in Collective Action: Emotional Consequences of Suicide Protest in South Korea, 1991.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly7(2):159–76.
43.
KimSun-Chul. 2016. Democratization and Social Movements in South Korea. New York: Routledge.
44.
KimSun-Chul. 2021. “The Trajectory of Protest Suicide in South Korea, 1970–2015.” Journal of Contemporary Asia51(1):38–63.
45.
KlandermansBert. 1997. The Social Psychology of Protest. Oxford: Blackwell.
46.
KleresJochenWettergrenÅsa. 2017. “Fear, Hope, Anger, and Guilt in Climate Activism.” Social Movement Studies16(5):507–19.
LawsonErica S.2018. “Bereaved Black Mothers and Maternal Activism in the Racial State.” Feminist Studies44(3):713–35.
49.
LeeHyeon Jung. 2017. “From Passive Citizens to Resistant Subjects: The Sewol Families Stand up to the State.” Pp. 187–207 in Challenges of Modernization and Governance in South Korea: The Sinking of the Sewol and Its Causes, edited by SuhJ.-J.KimM.London: Palgrave Macmillan.
50.
LeeJuyeonKimMyoung-HeeDi RuggieroErica. 2021. “The Corporate Killing Movement in South Korea: A Critical Realist Analysis of Social Structure and Collective Agency.” Critical Public Health31(2):156–68.
51.
LeeNamhee. 2007. The Making of Minjung: Democracy and the Politics of Representation in South Korea. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
52.
LieJohn. 2015. “The Wreck of the Sewol: The Sinking South Korean Body Politics.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs16(2):111–21.
53.
ManabeYuko. 2015. Yŏlsa Ŭi t’ansaeng: Han’guk Minjung Undong Esŏŭi Han Ŭi Yŏkhak [The Birth of Martyrs: Mechanisms of Han in the Korean Minjung Movement]. Seoul: Minsogwŏn.
54.
McCulloughMichael E.EmmonsRobert A.KilpatrickShelley D.LarsonDavid B.2001. “Is Gratitude a Moral Affect?”Psychological Bulletin127(2):249–66.
55.
MesquitaBatja. 2022. Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
56.
NairnKaren. 2019. “Learning from Young People Engaged in Climate Activism: The Potential of Collectivizing Despair and Hope.” Young27(5):435–50.
57.
NavarroMarysa. 1989. “The Personal Is Political: Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo.” Pp. 241–58 in Power and Popular Protest: Latin American Social Movements, edited by EcksteinS.Berkeley: University of California Press.
58.
NodaMasaaki. 2015. Ttŏnabonaenŭn Gil Wiesŏ [On the Way to Mourning]. Seoul: Pentagram Publishing.
59.
NussbaumMartha C.2001. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. New York: Cambridge University Press.
60.
OrleckAnnelise. 1997. “Overview: Environmental Justice.” Pp. 23–27 in The Politics of Motherhood: Activist Voices from Left to Right, edited by JetterA.OrleckA.TaylorD.Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
61.
ParkByeong-chul. 1994. “Political Suicide among Korean Youth.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars26(1–2):66–82.
62.
PerryElizabeth. 2002. “Moving the Masses: Emotion Work in the Chinese Revolution.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly7(2):111–28.
63.
PollettaFrancesca. 2006. It Was Like a Fever. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
64.
PollettaFrancesca. 2020. Inventing the Ties That Bind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
65.
Ransan-CooperHeddaErcanSelen A.DuusSonya. 2018. “When Anger Meets Joy: How Emotions Mobilise and Sustain the Anti-coal Seam Gas Movement in Regional Australia.” Social Movement Studies17(6):635–57.
66.
ReedJean-Pierre. 2004. “Emotions in Context: Revolutionary Accelerators, Hope, Moral Outrage, and Other Emotions in the Making of Nicaragua’s Revolution.” Theory and Society33(6):653–703.
67.
RussellJames A.1991. “Culture and the Categorization of Emotions.” Psychological Bulletin110(3):426–50.
68.
SchirmerJennifer G.1989. “‘Those Who Die for Life Cannot Be Called Dead’: Women and Human Rights Protest in Latin America.” Feminist Review32:3–29.
69.
SeoYoung Chae. 2019. “The Birth of an Ethical Subject: The 1980s and South Korean Literature.” Pp. 260–86 in Beyond Death: The Politics of Suicide & Martyrdom in Korea, edited by KimC. R.KimJ.NamH.SuhS.-B.Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
70.
SimitiMarilena. 2014. “Rage and Protest : The Case of the Greek Indignant Movement.” Hellenic Observatory3(82):33–50.
71.
SimpsonJohnBennettJana. 1985. The Disappeared and the Mothers of the Plaza: The Story of the 11,000 Argentinians Who Vanished. New York: St. Martins Press.
72.
StavrianosCynthia. 2015. The Political Uses of Motherhood in America. New York: Routledge.
73.
SuhJ. J.2014. “The Failure of the South Korean National Security State: The Sewol Tragedy in the Age of Neoliberalism.” Asia-Pacific Journal12(40):1–10.
74.
Jae-JungSuhKimMikyoung, eds. 2017. Challenges of Modernization and Governance in South Korea: The Sinking of the Sewol and Its Causes. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
75.
TesserAbrahamGatewoodRobertDriverMichael. 1968. “Some Determinants of Gratitude.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology9(3):233–36.
76.
ThorntonSally Webb. 2000. “Grief Transformed: The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.” Omega: Journal of Death and Dying41(4):279–89.
77.
Van der VeenGerritaKlandermansBert. 1989. “‘Exit’ Behavior in Social Movement Organizations.” International Social Movement Research2:179–98.
78.
WoodrickAnne C.1995. “A Lifetime of Mourning: Grief Work among Yucatec Maya Women.” Ethos23(4):401–23.
79.
WoodsMichaelAndersonJonGuilbertStevenWatkinSuzie. 2012. “‘The Country(Side) Is Angry’: Emotion and Explanation in Protest Mobilization.” Social and Cultural Geography13(6):567–85.
80.
ZarrughAmina. 2022. “Toward a Sociology of Family Movements: Lessons from the Global South.” Sociology Compass16:e12976.
