CFA: Workshop “Collective emotions, societal movements, and social groups”, 7–8 July 2025, Bern (Switzerland)
Message:
Call for Abstracts
Workshop: Collective emotions, societal movements, and social groups
Dates: 7–8 July 2025
Venue: University of Bern, Switzerland
Confirmed Speakers
- Mikko Salmela
- Hans Bernhard Schmidt
- Ruth Rebecca Tietjen
Workshop Theme
The workshop will focus on the influence and importance of collective emotions for social movements and social groups. It aims to explore how insights from the study of (collective) emotions—drawing on affective sciences, the philosophy of emotion, social ontology, or social psychology—can illuminate the role that collective emotions play, or fail to play, in the structuring of social movements and social groups.
Social movements often include or leverage collective emotions. Salient examples include calls for heightened emotional responses to ecological crises, such as fear and outrage motivating climate activism; the use of national pride or resentment in the mobilization of populist movements; or the potential manipulation of collective emotions in propaganda to steer public opinion. Other instances include the role of shared grief in solidarity after tragedies, collective euphoria in sports and its impact on fan communities, the fostering of hope and determination within grassroots campaigns for social justice, or collective guilt as a driver of reparative actions, like addressing historical injustices and advocating for restorative policies.
This workshop seeks to address questions such as:
- Do collective emotions merely reflect shared evaluations and motivations, do they play a direct causal role in initiating societal changes, or does another kind of relation explain the strong link between collective emotions, social movements, and social groups?
- Do specific collective emotions (e.g. indignation, fear, pride) play a particularly influential role on social movements and social groups?
- How can research on emotions and collective intentionality help us understand the potential positive and negative roles of collective emotions in social and political contexts?
- What ethical concerns emerge from the roles of collective emotions in social movements and groups?
Contributions on other questions relevant to the workshop's theme are also welcome.
Participation details
Format. Each presentation will be allocated a 55-minute slot, including Q&A.
Submission Guidelines. Please submit an anonymized document with an abstract of 500–1000 words (excluding references) to [email protected] by 3 March 2025. In a separate title-page document, include the title of your contribution, your name, affiliation, and contact information. Notifications of acceptance will be sent in mid-March.
Funding. Three nights’ accommodation and a contribution toward travel costs will be covered for all accepted speakers.
This workshop is funded by the SERI-funded ERC Starting Grant Project “Collective Guilt and Shame” (CoGS).
Message:
Call for Abstracts
Workshop: Collective emotions, societal movements, and social groups
Dates: 7–8 July 2025
Venue: University of Bern, Switzerland
Confirmed Speakers
- Mikko Salmela
- Hans Bernhard Schmidt
- Ruth Rebecca Tietjen
Workshop Theme
The workshop will focus on the influence and importance of collective emotions for social movements and social groups. It aims to explore how insights from the study of (collective) emotions—drawing on affective sciences, the philosophy of emotion, social ontology, or social psychology—can illuminate the role that collective emotions play, or fail to play, in the structuring of social movements and social groups.
Social movements often include or leverage collective emotions. Salient examples include calls for heightened emotional responses to ecological crises, such as fear and outrage motivating climate activism; the use of national pride or resentment in the mobilization of populist movements; or the potential manipulation of collective emotions in propaganda to steer public opinion. Other instances include the role of shared grief in solidarity after tragedies, collective euphoria in sports and its impact on fan communities, the fostering of hope and determination within grassroots campaigns for social justice, or collective guilt as a driver of reparative actions, like addressing historical injustices and advocating for restorative policies.
This workshop seeks to address questions such as:
- Do collective emotions merely reflect shared evaluations and motivations, do they play a direct causal role in initiating societal changes, or does another kind of relation explain the strong link between collective emotions, social movements, and social groups?
- Do specific collective emotions (e.g. indignation, fear, pride) play a particularly influential role on social movements and social groups?
- How can research on emotions and collective intentionality help us understand the potential positive and negative roles of collective emotions in social and political contexts?
- What ethical concerns emerge from the roles of collective emotions in social movements and groups?
Contributions on other questions relevant to the workshop's theme are also welcome.
Participation details
Format. Each presentation will be allocated a 55-minute slot, including Q&A.
Submission Guidelines. Please submit an anonymized document with an abstract of 500–1000 words (excluding references) to [email protected] by 3 March 2025. In a separate title-page document, include the title of your contribution, your name, affiliation, and contact information. Notifications of acceptance will be sent in mid-March.
Funding. Three nights’ accommodation and a contribution toward travel costs will be covered for all accepted speakers.
This workshop is funded by the SERI-funded ERC Starting Grant Project “Collective Guilt and Shame” (CoGS).