Emotional Motivation: How Anger, Fear, Hope and Pride Impact Women’s Political Participation

Author

Ashley Martin

Date of Award

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Patrick Donnay

Abstract

Despite the great strides the United States has made since passing the 19th amendment, a woman’s emotions continues to become relevant in political discussions. Research has supported that emotion has a place in motivating political involvement, however, additional evidence has shown that for women and People of Color, the display of certain emotions disparage their abilities to influence. Because of these determinations, the present questions stand, is emotion effective in motivating women to participate in politics? If so, does that apply to all women, and to what extent? I utilized the American National Election Studies Cumulative Time-Series dataset to determine how emotions affect how women participate politically based on their education level and race. As expected, the findings of the present study showed significant statistical evidence that emotions such as anger, fear, hope and pride all are effective in motivating women to participate politically. Findings such as these allow us insight as to how much emotions influence women to mobilize. The present study expands on previous research as it confirms that emotions play an important role in participation. However, it takes previous research a step further as it focuses specifically on various demographics of women.

Recommended Citation

Martin, Ashley, "Emotional Motivation: How Anger, Fear, Hope and Pride Impact Women’s Political Participation" (2021). Political Science Theses and Capstones. 25.
https://pines.bemidjistate.edu/capstone-polisci/25