Grievance politics: an empirical analysis of anger through the emotional mechanism of ressentiment
Grievance politics: an empirical analysis of anger through the emotional mechanism of ressentiment
In this article, we undertake an empirical examination of the psychology of what is often called “the angry citizen,” high-lighting ressentiment as an important emotional mechanism of grievance politics. Contrary to the short‐lived, action‐prone emotion of anger proper, ressentiment transmutes the inputs of grievance politics like deprivation of opportunity, injustice, shame, humiliation, envy, and inefficacious anger, into the anti‐social outputs of morally righteous indignation, destructive anger, hatred, and rage. Our empirical probe uses qualitative and quantitative analysis of 164 excerpts from interviews with US “angry citizens” from the following works: Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016) by Arlie Russell Hochschild, Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era (2017) by Michael Kimmel, and Stiffed: The Roots of Modern Male Rage (2019) by Susan Faludi. In these seemingly “angry” excerpts, we find markers matching the psychological footprint of ressentiment instead of anger proper: victimhood, envy, powerlessness; the defenses of splitting, projection, and denial; and preference for inaction, anti‐preferences, and low efficacy. We con-clude on the significance of the distinction between anger proper and ressentiment for understanding the psychology of grievance politics.
anger, angry citizen, emotional mechanism, grievance, philosophy, political psychology, resentment, ressentiment, United States
384-395
Capelos, Tereza
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Salmela, Mikko
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Krisciunaite, Gabija
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Capelos, Tereza
bd3b5744-cbcc-44a4-9b73-b088d82154e7
Salmela, Mikko
e1deaa50-cfe6-47b3-939e-6856ea5a1513
Krisciunaite, Gabija
9d26361d-d6ba-470c-87ea-455384a11704
Capelos, Tereza, Salmela, Mikko and Krisciunaite, Gabija
(2022)
Grievance politics: an empirical analysis of anger through the emotional mechanism of ressentiment.
Politics and Governance, 10 (4), .
(doi:10.17645/pag.v10i4.5789).
Abstract
In this article, we undertake an empirical examination of the psychology of what is often called “the angry citizen,” high-lighting ressentiment as an important emotional mechanism of grievance politics. Contrary to the short‐lived, action‐prone emotion of anger proper, ressentiment transmutes the inputs of grievance politics like deprivation of opportunity, injustice, shame, humiliation, envy, and inefficacious anger, into the anti‐social outputs of morally righteous indignation, destructive anger, hatred, and rage. Our empirical probe uses qualitative and quantitative analysis of 164 excerpts from interviews with US “angry citizens” from the following works: Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016) by Arlie Russell Hochschild, Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era (2017) by Michael Kimmel, and Stiffed: The Roots of Modern Male Rage (2019) by Susan Faludi. In these seemingly “angry” excerpts, we find markers matching the psychological footprint of ressentiment instead of anger proper: victimhood, envy, powerlessness; the defenses of splitting, projection, and denial; and preference for inaction, anti‐preferences, and low efficacy. We con-clude on the significance of the distinction between anger proper and ressentiment for understanding the psychology of grievance politics.
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PaG 10(4) - Grievance Politics_ An Empirical Analysis of Anger Through the Emotional Mechanism of Ressentiment
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 October 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 December 2022
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Funding Information:
We thank Alexandro Nai, Diego Garzia, Loes Aaldering, Frederico Ferreira da Silva, and Katjana Gattermann for their work on putting together this thematical issue, and for organizing the homonymous workshop in November 2021 which gave us the opportunity to collaborate on this fascinating project. We also thank the workshop par-ticipants, the colleagues at the HEPPsinki research seminar at the University of Helsinki, the Oxford Political Psychology Seminar Series, the Hot Politics Lab at the University of Amsterdam, and the anonymous reviewers of Politics and Governance who read and commented on drafts of our work. Their constructive and astute suggestions significantly improved our manuscript. A big thanks also to Colin Provost for his generous help in proofreading our work, and the editorial team of Politics and Governance for their attention to detail and their diligence. Salmela’s work was supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 832940).
Funding Information:
We thank Alexandro Nai, Diego Garzia, Loes Aaldering, Frederico Ferreira da Silva, and Katjana Gattermann for their work on putting together this thematical issue, and for organizing the homonymous workshop in November 2021 which gave us the opportunity to collaborate on this fascinating project. We also thank the workshop par‐ ticipants, the colleagues at the HEPPsinki research sem‐ inar at the University of Helsinki, the Oxford Political Psychology Seminar Series, the Hot Politics Lab at the University of Amsterdam, and the anonymous reviewers of Politics and Governance who read and commented on drafts of our work. Their constructive and astute sug‐ gestions significantly improved our manuscript. A big thanks also to Colin Provost for his generous help in proofreading our work, and the editorial team of Politics and Governance for their attention to detail and their diligence. Salmela’s work was supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 832940).
Keywords:
anger, angry citizen, emotional mechanism, grievance, philosophy, political psychology, resentment, ressentiment, United States
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 483250
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483250
ISSN: 2183-2463
PURE UUID: 1a789a55-d229-4061-980b-111863462f00
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Date deposited: 26 Oct 2023 16:59
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:15
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Contributors
Author:
Tereza Capelos
Author:
Mikko Salmela
Author:
Gabija Krisciunaite
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