Democratic Deliberation in the Modern World by Paul Gunn

Author:Paul Gunn [Gunn, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780415702850
Google: OtI3mgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 17718587
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

Emotion in Politics

The fifth move away from rationalist minimalism involves recognizing the importance of emotion in politics.

Zygmunt Bauman (2000, 8) uses the terms “fluidity” and “liquidity” as metaphors appropriate for grasping the nature of the present phase in the history of modernity: melting all solids, profaning the sacred, dethroning tradition. It is a period in which the destination of individual self-construction is endemically underdetermined. Liquefying powers have penetrated all levels of society, including the personal realm. All settings are fluid, unstructured, open not only to fads and fashions but to emotions and sentiments. Ralf Dahrendorf (1979) has described the process in other terms, he used the words “options” and “ligatures” for sketching the imbalance of postmodern society: there are more desires, wishes, and spontaneous urges than commitments, bonds, and continuities. The less society is structured (in classes, consolidated lifestyles, stable associations) and the more it is individualistic and pluralistic, fluid and flexible, the more political decisions may be considered respectable when analyzed no more carefully than this: “I like him. I think he’s just great.” Where appraisals are predominantly based on sentiments, rational arguments can seem superfluous, if not ridiculous.

Some scholars argue that political campaigns are much less about proposals than about emotions (Brader 2006). The political process is particulary emotion-laden, not only in the sense that persuasive leaders must generate positive emotions toward themselves; but also in the sense that the contemptuous disparagement of opponents is common practice. Participants note that a “thick skin” is necessary to survive in politics. Postmodern citizens may have to rely on strong feelings, sensations, and exaggerations because of the sheer quantity of decisions they make and the speed required. Emotions are “quick and dirty” hard-wired decisionmaking assistants, their valence laid down by the “on-line processing” of information (Lodge, McGraw, and Stroh 1989) or by biologically innate, “fast and frugal” heuristics (Gigerenzer 2008). There are so many competing signals and distractions in an “attention economy” (Franck 1998) that a successful signal may need to appeal to subconscious decision mechanisms. Signals will be remembered if they arouse emotion, even when the message in the signal is forgotten. Signals that engage the biological surveillance system (the warning mechanism that stimulates high vigilance) are most important, and are triggered best by signals that generate fear and anxiety: violence, murder, terrorism, war, natural or man-made disasters, crimes, extreme weather conditions.

In their advertisements politicians typically argue that the nation faces imminent serious disasters, such as nuclear explosions, war, or murderers prowling city streets, that have been ignored or mishandled by their opponents. The candidate promoted by the advertisement is the only one who can cope with the crisis, thereby saving the viewers from mortal danger. There is ample evidence that such evocations of serious threats and promises of relief conveyed through news media capture audiences’ attention. (Graber 2007, 269)

Not surprisingly, a recent case study comes to the conclusion that “advertising does little to inform, next to nothing to mobilize, and a great deal to persuade potential voters” (Huber and Arceneaux 2007, 975).

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