6 - Cognition and Affect among Demonstrators

Summary

Chapter 6 looks at the cognitive and affective dispositions of demonstrators. More specifically it addresses the role of political attitudes and emotions as well as how the relate to each other We examine in particular to which extent demonstrators are interested in politics, satisfied with democracy, trust the political institutions, and have the feeling they can change things through their engagement. We also look at how political interest, satisfaction, trust, and efficacy varies across countries, depending on whether demonstrations address cultural or economic issues, and between novices and activists. Furthermore, we examine the relationship between political attitudes of demonstrators and four primary emotions (anger, worry, fear, and frustration) which may be expected to combine with political attitudes and to influence in different ways the individuals’ motivation to participate in demonstrations. Confronting political attitudes and emotions, we assess two accounts of commitment among demonstrators – a cognitive account based on political attitudes and an affective account stressing the role of emotions – and how these two types of factors combine.