Emotions as a Resource for Individual Political Action: Emails to Jeb Bush Regarding Terri Schiavo.

This paper explores the role emotion play in individual political action. We analyze strategic decision-making at the individual level by examining if (and when) individuals use emotions in their efforts to persuade a political target. To test whether individuals choose what emotions best complement their claims-making relative to their political targets, we assess patterns between political framing and emotional indicators as they appear in a coded sample of constituent emails sent to Governor Jeb Bush pertaining to the removal of the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo. The Terri Schiavo case is so compelling for the study of spontaneous deployment of emotion in individual political action because it encompasses a number of intense issues that resonate with individuals on a personal level. In general, our analysis lends evidence to the notion that emotions are used by individual actors as a resource in their political activism. We find patterns consistent with our understanding of the use of negative emotions, moral batteries, and moral shocks theorized as part of political action. Our analysis provides evidential weight and insight to these concepts noting that they extend beyond their deployment within social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]