The Anger Gap

by Davin L. Phoenix

Anger is a powerful mobilizing force in American politics on both sides of the political aisle, but does it motivate all groups equally? This book offers a new conceptualization of anger as a political resource that mobilizes black and white Americans differentially to exacerbate political inequality. Drawing on survey data from the last forty years, experiments, and rhetoric analysis, Phoenix finds that - from Reagan to Trump - black Americans register significantly less anger than their white counterparts and that anger (in contrast to pride) has a weaker mobilizing effect on their political participation. The book examines both the causes of this and the consequences. Pointing to black Americans' tempered expectations of politics and the stigmas associated with black anger, it shows how race and lived experience moderate the emergence of emotions and their impact on behavior. The book makes multiple theoretical contributions and offers important practical insights for political strategy.

Genres: Politics, Race, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2019

Reviews

[Lynn Schlatter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think my enjoyment of this book was greatly diminished by my difference of opinion with the author regarding the utility and desirability of anger in politics.