Facts Shape Feelings: Information, Emotions, and the Political Consequences of Violence
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11109_2021_9755_ReferencePDF.pdf
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622.61 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2e1685b7292f4be6ea3f60027fc3c679
Author(s)
Milliff, Aidan
Date Issued
October 13, 2021
Publisher
Springer US
Citation
Milliff, Aidan. 2021. "Facts Shape Feelings: Information, Emotions, and the Political Consequences of Violence."
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Abstract
What makes violence political? Existing research argues that experiencing violence generates anger and grievances, which cause political mobilization, retribution, and spirals of escalating violence. I argue that the effect of violence on the political behavior of survivors is highly variable: situation-specific information shapes how survivors of violence experience anger, and whether they attribute blame to individual perpetrators or form more durable, expansive political grievances toward targets like police or prosecutors. I use qualitative and computational methods to analyze transcripts of original interviews with relatives of Black and Latinx homicide victims in Chicago, IL. Results show substantial diversity in emotional experience and blame attribution. I argue that this diversity is caused by variation in clarity about identity and motive of the perpetrator, and variation in perception of perpetrator responsibility. Having or lacking crucial information determines whether survivors become angry at perpetrators or form broader political grievances after traumatic experiences. Evidence from Chicago challenges the notion that violent trauma and anger have automatic or straightforward consequences for political behavior.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09755-1
