What moves social movements? The role of emotions in collective action

For many years, the study of emotions as a means of understanding social movements has been treated with suspicion, as emotions in politics were stereotypically associated with irrationalism and the worst moments and aspects of European and world history (i.e., Fascism, Nazism, populism). This distrust has largely been dispelled over the last twenty years or so, as the sociology of emotions has rapidly developed. Movement analysis could not remain unaffected by this shift.  Premised on the appraisal theory of emotions, this paper will discuss protest emotions as accelerators and amplifiers of social movements.