When is Anger Legitimate for People of Color? Racialized Feeling Rules and Representation in Climate Activism

• In Event: 40854 - Advances in the Sociology of Emotions

Abstract

In the wake of complaints that the climate change movement has marginalized people of color and people from the global south, today, members of these groups are more likely to speak at international climate summits and events. But is giving a speech in the way that is expected the same as having a voice? Drawing on the literature on racialized feeling rules and representation, I conduct an inductive analysis of 80 well-liked speeches by climate activists to assess whether the expectations of representation and emotional expressions are different for activists of color from the global south compared to white activists. I ask: (1) Scope of Representation: To what extent is the speaker speaking on behalf of? (2) Emotional Performance: What types of emotions are expressed and how? Recurring patterns in both of these criteria lead me to believe that the speech norms are different for activists of color from the global south and white activists from the global north. White activists constructed their experiences as universal while global south activists did not. More importantly, in comparison to white activists, anger was attenuated and delegitimized for activists of color; they were a) mentioned but not performed; b) regarded as a past state or a generic sentiment of a bigger group; and c) indirectly expressed but supplemented with a hopeful message. This study especially contributes to the literature on emotions and racialized feeling rules around the lines of global racial inequality as it sheds light on the specific dynamics of how emotions are raced and classed in global climate activism.
Keywords: Racialized Feeling Rules, Anger, Climate Activism, Racial Inequality

Author

• Yeryeng Choi, University of California Irvine