Sisters, How Y’all Feel? Brothers, Y’all Alright?: Examining the Effects of Fear and Anger in the Politics of Diverse Men and Women

Abstract

Group identities and emotions shape how people experience politics. Groups provide cues about political participation and evaluations of policies and candidates. Although a burgeoning literature demonstrates that emotions matter for public opinion and decision-making, most research focuses on White Americans. When the emotions of people of color are examined, racial and ethnic groups are often studied separately rather than comparatively. We address these shortcomings by examining anger and fear among Black, Latino, Asian American, and White women and men. Examining these groups together reveals how emotions stimulate or constrain electoral and non-electoral political behavior. Drawing on the theory of racialized emotions, we argue that positionality within America’s race-gendered matrix of oppression shapes how fear and anger are channeled into political behavior. We find variation across diverse men and women in experiences of fear and anger and further, that these emotions have markedly different effects on electoral and non-electoral political participation.