Politics and the Emotions The Affective Turn in Contemporary Political Studies

The assumption that human beings are rational actors is becoming quite inadequate in a world rife with crisis and uncertainty. It is more and more apparent that economic and political behavior is governed as much by powerful passions, ideas, and unstable identities as by the reasoned pursuit of individual and collective interests. Emotions such as love, fear, and despair have powerful political effects, from fostering forgiveness and hope to encouraging apathy and paranoia.

Simon Thompson is Reader in Political Theory at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Paul Hoggett is Professor of Social Policy at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.