Attitudes and Emotions related to the Object of Participation: The so far Neglected Driving Force of Political Activism

Studies on the effects of political motivations on political participation are usually limited to the examination of general political attitudes and values, such as political efficacy or postmaterlism. The role of people’s attitudinal positions towards the object of participation has not been examined to a greater extent. However, as a preliminary qualitative research shows, attitudes and emotions related to the object of participation, e.g. a “moral shock” related to animal abuse, seem to be a crucial self-driving factor pulling some people to participation and compensating for the lack of other classical determinants, such as mobilization or general political interest. To examine that, the paper relies on a unique case-control data including surveys of participants at three demonstrations (LGBT pride, Veggie parade, and anti-austerity) and a nationally representative survey of non-participants that all cover positions and emotions related to demonstrations’ issues together with measures on recruitment and standard political motivations.