The Effects of Race, Anger and Pride on Political Activity and Protest Support

• In Event: Racial Attitudes from Policy to Protest

Abstract

My past examinations into the role of race in shaping the translation of emotions to political
behavior (Phoenix, 2019; Phoenix and Arora 2018) indicate that anger is a much more effective
mobilizer of participation for White Americans than people of color, while in contrast, pride
exerts a stronger effect on people of color’s participation relative to Whites. This project
addresses lingering questions from this work, which are particularly relevant in light of recent
instances of widespread protests for racial justice and anger fueled insurrection from White
Nationalists. One, what are the particular objects of pride—e.g. civic or racial—that propel
political action (particularly in protest actions) among people of color? Two, can civic or racial
pride act as a mediating emotion that effectively translates people of color’s expressed anger
over racial or economic injustice toward greater political engagement? Analyzing new measures
of racial and economic anger and civic and racial pride that I’ve added to the 2020 Collaborative
Multi-racial Post-election Survey (CMPS), I determine which dimensions of pride are most
mobilizing for people of color (and Whites), whether pride mediates the pathway from anger to
participation among people of color, and finally, how the distinct types of anger and pride
intersect to shape people’s views of the utility of protest politics to address a variety of causes,
across race.

Author

• Davin Lanier Phoenix, University of California, Irvine