Abstract

This paper seeks to explain how and why people join social movements In a study of the Occupy movement the authors set out to demonstrate that participation is a function of emotional attachments between participants attachment through shared emotions regarding the loss of trust in traditional institutions and belief in efficacy of alternative open institutions Using the concept of second-order emotions the authors argue that the movement through horizontal democracy helps to regulate emotions through recognition of those emotions The researchers argue that in addition to a distrust of traditional institutions social rituals in the Occupy movement serve to fortify collective emotions and create strong bonds between participants