"In January 2017, when millions of women in the United States took the streets chanting "Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!" they channeled mass anger at Trump's misogyny and racism into worldwide protests. From social media flame wars to fiery political speeches, emotion shapes political rhetoric and action. Politicized emotions can galvanize participation and inspire democratic renewal, such as in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. But when populist leaders use emotion to motivate their volatile supporters, emotional appeals can also undermine democratic stability. Feeling Democracy explores the complex relationship between emotions, democracies, and social movements through a feminist lens. Each chapter author considers the role of emotions in the public sphere, which is often gendered as masculine and associated with reason, not emotion, and shows how solidarities forged around gender, race, and sexuality become catalysts for a passionate democratic politics"--
"Cultural critic Lauren Berlant wrote that "politics is always emotional," and her words hold especially true for politics in the twenty-first century. From Obama to Trump, from Black Lives Matter to the anti-abortion movement, politicians and activists appeal to hope, fear, anger, and pity, all amplified by social media. The essays in Feeling Democracy examine how both reactionary and progressive politics are driven largely by emotional appeals to the public. The contributors in this collection cover everything from immigrants' rights movements to white nationalist rallies to show how solidarities forged around gender, race, and sexuality become catalysts for a passionate democratic politics. Some essays draw parallels between today's activist strategies and the use of emotion in women-led radical movements from the 1960s and 1970s, while others expand the geographic scope of the collection by considering Asian decolonial politics and Egyptian pro-democracy protests. Incorporating scholarship from fields as varied as law, political science, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and history, Feeling Democracy considers how emotional rhetoric in politics can be a double-edged sword-often wielded by authoritarian populists who seek to undermine democracy but sometimes helping to bring about a genuine renewal of participatory democracy. "--
The contributors to Feeling Democracy examine how both reactionary and progressive politics in the twenty-first century are driven largely by emotional appeals to the public. These essays cover everything from immigrants’ rights movements to white nationalist rallies to show how solidarities forged around gender, race, and sexuality become catalysts for a passionate democratic politics.
Cultural critic Lauren Berlant wrote that “politics is always emotional,” and her words hold especially true for politics in the twenty-first century. From Obama to Trump, from Black Lives Matter to the anti-abortion movement, politicians and activists appeal to hope, fear, anger, and pity, all amplified by social media.
The essays in Feeling Democracy examine how both reactionary and progressive politics are driven largely by emotional appeals to the public. The contributors in this collection cover everything from immigrants’ rights movements to white nationalist rallies to show how solidarities forged around gender, race, and sexuality become catalysts for a passionate democratic politics. Some essays draw parallels between today’s activist strategies and the use of emotion in women-led radical movements from the 1960s and 1970s, while others expand the geographic scope of the collection by considering Asian decolonial politics and Egyptian pro-democracy protests.
Incorporating scholarship from fields as varied as law, political science, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and history, Feeling Democracy considers how emotional rhetoric in politics can be a double-edged sword—often wielded by authoritarian populists who seek to undermine democracy but sometimes helping to bring about a genuine renewal of participatory democracy.
