Their shame and our pride: How the radical right uses emotions for political gain

Radical right politicians use emotions to gain political support. They present themselves as the political force that protects the people from the negativity of ‘the Left’ and ‘liberals’. Individuals, prone to feeling shame, humiliation and resentment in their everyday life, may be particularly drawn to such rhetoric. 

The radical right politicians, coming from different national contexts, are adopting an emotional narrative that invokes shame and pride in order to garner political support. Increasingly numerous research studies in recent years have pointed to the role of emotions, such as fear, anger and resentment, in the mobilising rhetoric of right-wing populist leaders. Shame and its impact on the electorates of the radical right, however, have remained relatively underexplored, perhaps because shame is characteristically elusive. People tend to avoid revealing to others their feelings of shame or embarrassment.

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