Reason and Emotions in Pro-Social Activism Networks in Europe

The relevance of the emotional factor in the participation and mobilisation of movements does not imply the substitution of the rational paradigm with the emotional one, but rather the overcoming of the dichotomy emotion-reason. In this focus area it is crucial to emphasise that the concepts of emotion and feeling should not be used indiscriminately as synonyms (Anolli, 2002): anger, an emotion that seems to be more investigated by scholars of social movements, has different traits, although consequently linked to the feeling of indignation; indeed, both are noted as main drivers for mobilisation.

Even though activists often manifest anger and indignation towards the structures of hegemonic power, which are seen as the enemy, it is possible to detect a further, opposite primary feeling at the basis of the structuring of pro-social activism networks. This feeling can be described as love, understood as empathy or compassionate love, which emerges in attitudes such as solidarity and compassion towards all those who are socially excluded (Flam, 2024).

The aim of this contribution is to analyse prosocial activism and its networks by addressing the following research questions: what types of emotions prevail in the process of building the collective identity of prosocial networks? Is the mobilisation of these networks more driven by the anger/resentment that their members feel towards discriminatory policies or by the inclination to help people in difficulty? How are these emotions communicated to the outside world through mass media and collective events? The emotional key of prosocial activism will be investigated through the examination of data that emerged from a campaign of narrative interviews with members of some pro-migrant European networks in an attempt to provide answers to the above-mentioned research questions.