Managing Moral Emotions in Divided Politics

This book explores how to identify and understand moral emotionsshame, guilt, pride, and hubrisin political messages and news media. Recognizing these emotions is crucial for assessing morality's role in public discourse, particularly as moral debates have deepened public divides on issues like abortion, migration, LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom of speech. These debates fuel political struggles between groups with different social values and moral intuitions, especially during election campaigns where moral conflicts are used to distinguish opposing forces. In these moral conflicts, each ideological camp seeks to affirm its legitimacy while questioning its opponents' reputations. Thus, understanding morality is vital for those interested in contemporary public discourses in divided nations. This book stimulates discussion on emotion-based morality, moral language, and discursive moral regulation in politics. It offers innovative analytical frameworks to study how political communication contributes to public moralization. The book combines descriptive, explorative, and comparative approaches to summarize findings from mixed-method analyses (qualitative and quantitative, textual and visual, content and survey) of moral emotional messages and media portrayals of prime minister candidates during Hungary's 2022 General Election Campaigns. Hungary serves as an illustrative case due to increasing concerns about the moral status of its political elite and extreme hostility between political blocs, leading to polarized views on governance. This book will be of interest to academics specializing in empirical moral studies and investigating public discussions in contentious and polarized societies.

Galvanizes the discussion of emotion-based morality, moral language, and moral regulation in politics Combines knowledge from moral theory, social psychology, political sociology, media and communication studies Provides empirical data to map moral emotions in an election campaigning context

Autorentext

Gabriella Szabó is a senior research fellow and former Head of Department of Political Behaviour at the Institute for Political Science of the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Hungary.

Klappentext

This book explores how to identify and understand moral emotions shame, guilt, pride, and hubris in political messages and news media. Recognizing these emotions is crucial for assessing morality's role in public discourse, particularly as moral debates have deepened public divides on issues like abortion, migration, LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom of speech. These debates fuel political struggles between groups with different social values and moral intuitions, especially during election campaigns where moral conflicts are used to distinguish opposing forces. In these moral conflicts, each ideological camp seeks to affirm its legitimacy while questioning its opponents' reputations. Thus, understanding morality is vital for those interested in contemporary public discourses in divided nations. This book stimulates discussion on emotion-based morality, moral language, and discursive moral regulation in politics. It offers innovative analytical frameworks to study how political communication contributes to public moralization. The book combines descriptive, explorative, and comparative approaches to summarize findings from mixed-method analyses (qualitative and quantitative, textual and visual, content and survey) of moral emotional messages and media portrayals of prime minister candidates during Hungary's 2022 General Election Campaigns. Hungary serves as an illustrative case due to increasing concerns about the moral status of its political elite and extreme hostility between political blocs, leading to polarized views on governance. This book will be of interest to academics specializing in empirical moral studies and investigating public discussions in contentious and polarized societies.

Inhalt

1: Introduction: Self-Conscious Moral Emotions In Election Campaigns.- 2: Enforcing Morality: Shaming And Guilting In Márki-Zay Péter's Rhetoric.- 3: Feeling Proud Together: Manifesting Pride And Hubris In Orbán Viktor's Rhetoric.- 4: Visuals Of Moral Emotions In Social Media Messages Of Prime Minister Candidates.- 5: Post-Election Blues: Guilt And Blame In Facing Crisis After By-Election Losses.- 6: Moral Emotions In The Online News Media Coverage Of Election Campaigns.- 7: It Is Our Moral Duty!: Moralities And Emotions In Covering The War In Ukraine.- 8: Do People Identify Moral Emotions In Political Messages?.- 9: Emotional Imitation During Election Campaigning.-10: Conclusion.