Balancing Emotions: The Role of Collective Narratives in the "Woman, Life, Freedom" Movement in Iran
Balancing Emotions: The Role of Collective Narratives in the "Woman, Life, Freedom" Movement in Iran
Monday, 7 July 2025: 16:15
Location: SJES026 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
Oral Presentation
Social movements usually employ narratives to creating an image to attract participants and support of the spectators. In this research we studied the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in Iran, focusing on how collective narratives and emotions as any other social movement—specifically anger, fear, empathy, and hope—influenced its mobilization and eventual decline. Social movements often use collective narratives to engage human emotions that motivate individual participation, triggering specific moral incentives. The balance, diversity and intensity of each one of these emotions can either encourage or deter engagement.
Using a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research, like computational social science techniques and sentiment analysis are employed alongside narrative analysis. In general we employed the theory of collective action and drawing on theory of emotions in collective actions and protests and work on collective identity, our research offers a better explanation and understanding of the complex intersection between individuals emotions and a social movement as a collective action.
The findings of our study indicates that the emotions evoked by the movement's collective narratives were can be influential in both its rise and fall. However, the simultaneous emergence of multiple, sometimes conflicting, narratives led to fragmentation. Diverse groups with their own stories and demands participated, which diluted the collective emotional focus and weakened empathy among participants. This imbalance—stemming from either excessive or insufficient emphasis on certain emotions—contributed to disengagement and impeded the movement's progress.
This study highlight the complex ways in which emotions and moral incentives, mediated through collective narratives, affect the dynamics of social movements. It emphasizes the importance of balanced emotional engagement and coherent narratives in sustaining participation and effecting change. By examining the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, we demonstrate how varying narratives and the emotional responses they generate can influence a movement's trajectory.
Using a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research, like computational social science techniques and sentiment analysis are employed alongside narrative analysis. In general we employed the theory of collective action and drawing on theory of emotions in collective actions and protests and work on collective identity, our research offers a better explanation and understanding of the complex intersection between individuals emotions and a social movement as a collective action.
The findings of our study indicates that the emotions evoked by the movement's collective narratives were can be influential in both its rise and fall. However, the simultaneous emergence of multiple, sometimes conflicting, narratives led to fragmentation. Diverse groups with their own stories and demands participated, which diluted the collective emotional focus and weakened empathy among participants. This imbalance—stemming from either excessive or insufficient emphasis on certain emotions—contributed to disengagement and impeded the movement's progress.
This study highlight the complex ways in which emotions and moral incentives, mediated through collective narratives, affect the dynamics of social movements. It emphasizes the importance of balanced emotional engagement and coherent narratives in sustaining participation and effecting change. By examining the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, we demonstrate how varying narratives and the emotional responses they generate can influence a movement's trajectory.