The Apathy Syndrome

How We Are Trained Not to Care about Politics

Bibliographic Data

ID2245259
AuthorsAnna Zhelnina (0000-0001-6558-2281, City University of New York, Graduate Center, and the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Saint Petersburg, Russia, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume67
Issue2
Pages358-378
Publication date2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Problems (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7791 • E-ISSN: 1533-8533
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/socpro/spz019
OpenAlexW2955091974
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited54

The role of emotions in social movements and mobilization has been an important focus of recent research, but the emotional mechanisms producing apathy and non-participation remain under studied. This article explores the thinking and feeling processes involved in the production of apolitical attitudes, paying particular attention to their social and cultural context. Cultural norms of appropriateness and emotional expression can hinder or boost the emotions involved in the mobilizing processes. Based on 60 interviews with young people in two Russian cities, collected during and in the aftermath of the anti-regime protests of 2011-12, I explore the apathy syndrome-a combination of emotional mechanisms and cultural norms that produce political apathy. Personal frustrating experiences develop into long-term cynicism and disbelief in the efficacy of collective action, a process exacerbated by the transmission of apathy in families and educational institutions, as well as by cultural norms of appropriate emotions. Cultural clichés and dissociation from others help people cope with the trap and justify inaction

Apathy · Cognition · Collective action · Context (archaeology) · Cynicism · Feeling · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Sociology · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia

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