Overview

What are antagonistic political emotions, and what do they do? This book explores how such emotions unfold within and shape the political sphere. By driving and reinforcing identities, political emotions deepen divisions and empower feelings of hatred but also establish allegiance and belonging. Contributions from leading philosophers, political theorists, and social psychologists uncover the broad range of emotions animating contemporary political life and reveal how they impact political identities while also generating both solidarity and division. The chapters trace how antagonistic emotions manifest across diverse contexts, from climate activism and online extremism to electoral politics and everyday civic engagement. The cutting-edge perspectives on the emotional foundations of political life make this volume essential reading for those seeking to understand what propels political behaviour in our polarised age. Challenging traditional binaries of positive versus negative emotions, the book shows how antagonistic feelings place us simultaneously for, against, and together.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lucy Osler (University of Exeter) ,  Thomas Szanto (University of Flensburg)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Weight:   0.756kg
ISBN:  

9781009493758

ISBN 10:   1009493752
Pages:   400
Publication Date:   11 June 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Rethinking affective antagonism: an introduction Lucy Osler and Thomas Szanto; Part I. Emotional Politics and Political Emotions: 1. The emotionalisation of society and the politicisation of emotions Agneta H. Fischer and Jan-Willem Duyvendak; 2. What makes an emotion political? Affective polarisation as a test case for political emotions Berit Brogaard; Part II. Hostile Antagonistic Political Emotions: 3. Yard sign politics: spite, polarisation, and self-expression Krista K. Thomason; 4. Ressentiment and identity Paul Katsafanas; 5. Collective victimhood: the shallow social bond of ressentiment Mikko Salmela and Tereza Capelos; 6. Do we share a moral order? The inevitability of blame and its hostile emotions James M. Jasper; Part III. Complicating Narratives Of Antagonism: 7. Fighting fire with fire: mobilising anger for climate justice Laura Silva and Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh; 8. The political significance of expressing group-based shame Alba Montes Sánchez and Alessandro Salice; 9. Anger and altruism, war and peace: antagonistic political emotions in human evolution John Protevi; 10. The fear of fear in political theory Dan Degerman; Part IV. Unmasking Antagonism: 11. Hostile loneliness Sanna Tirkkonen; 12. Affective doubt and antagonistic politics Tris Hedges and Lucy Osler; 13. Treating people as mere heroes: public admiration as a moral wrong Alfred Archer and André Grahle; 14. Collective hubris, triumphalism, and pyrrhic victories: exploring the darker side of collective pride in political struggles and conflicts Gavin Brent Sullivan, Jonas Valentin Rudolph and Philipp Wunderlich; 15. Unfelt political emotions: the case of ontological terror Gerhard Thonhauser; Part V. Spaces Of Antagonism: 16. #Whileweweregone: political antagonism, control, and empowerment online Moujan Mirdamadi and Joel Krueger; 17. Religious freedom and meaning vertigo: a social imaginaries analysis of 'the persecuted faithful' in the Australian's op-eds Louise Richardson-Self; 18. Affective bubbles and political emotions Tom Roberts.

Reviews

'This is, somewhat sadly, a most welcome and timely volume. The editors have done a great job of securing a rich diversity of primarily philosophical, but also psychological, and sociological perspective on antagonistic political emotions. The overall approach is exceptionally critical and conceptually alert and doesn't rest with the 'usual suspects' (hate, resentment, anger).' Thomas Brudholm, Associate Professor, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and author of Resentment's Virtue 'This book offers an ambitious and multi-faceted philosophical foray into the politics of emotion. Foregrounding antagonism, it offers a panoramic view of how emotions help constitute political identities, fuel commitments, structure public space, and channel collective action. A must read for anyone interested in politics and its affective underpinnings.' Mihaela Mihai, Professor of Political Theory, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK 'For, Against, Together uncovers the workings of antagonistic emotions in contemporary political life, from inspiring social movements to the dark corners of the Internet. Rich with new insights and timely examples, it is a book that both warns of the dangers of antagonistic emotions and finds them a place in our efforts to change the world for the better.' Katie Stockdale, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Victoria, Canada

Author Information

Lucy Osler is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Exeter, UK, specialising in the philosophy of emotions and technology in dialogue with the social sciences. She is the vice president of the European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotions and associate editor for Passion and Philosophy of AI. Thomas Szanto is a professor of political philosophy at the University of Flensburg, Germany, working at the intersection of social and political philosophy, phenomenology and the affective sciences. He serves on the editorial board of Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences and is the incoming Co-Editor-in-Chief of Emotion Review.

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