Policy Press

The Politics of Negative Emotions

Edited by Dan Degerman

Published

Apr 28, 2023

Page count

238 pages

Browse the series

Global Discourse

ISBN

978-1529228793

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Apr 28, 2023

Page count

238 pages

Browse the series

Global Discourse

ISBN

978-1529228809

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Apr 28, 2023

Page count

238 pages

Browse the series

Global Discourse

ISBN

978-1529228809

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press
The Politics of Negative Emotions

Negative emotions, including anger, fear, and shame, have been at the heart of recent political events, such as the protests against COVID-19 restrictions. These negative emotions can be politically destructive, leading people to act rashly without due concern for democratic principles. However, they can also accurately signal wrongdoing and motivate acts to redress the situation, as displayed in the Black Lives Matter and climate change movements.

This volume brings together perspectives from political science and philosophy to shed new light on the political faces of negative emotions. Engaging with real-world political events from Europe, the US, and Africa, contributors critically evaluate much-discussed emotions, such as anger and fear, but also less prominent ones, such as frustration and discomfort.

Dan Degerman is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bristol.

Introduction: Feeling Our Way through Politics - Dan Degerman

1. Anger, Fast and Slow: Mediations of Justice and Violence in the Age of Populism - William Davies

2. ‘We Will March Side by Side and Demand a Bigger Table’: Anger as Dignity Claim - Karen Adkins

3. Moving between Frustration and Anger - Mary Carman

4. The Resentment–Ressentiment Complex: A Critique of Liberal Discourse - Sjoerd van Tuinen

5. Green Shame: The Next Moral Revolution? - Martha Claeys

6. Against Comfort: Political Implications of Evading Discomfort - Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic

7. For Love and for Life: Emotional Dynamics at the World Congress of Families - Sara Kalm and Anna Meeuwisse

8. The Functionality of Affects: Conceptualising Far-Right Populist Politics beyond Negative Emotions - Julia Leser and Florian Spissinger

9. Moral Economies of Exclusion: Politics of Fear through Antagonistic Anonymity - Søren Mosgaard Andreasen

10. Contesting the Politics of Negative Emotions in Educational Policy Making: A Ban on Asylum Seekers’ School Visits in Finland - Iida Pyy, Anniina Leiviskä, and Jan-Erik Mansikka