Politics of interconfessional empathy and Schadenfreude in Lebanon

Ash, Konstantin; Dolan, Thomas M.

doi:10.1177/0738894220906370

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Indeed, Webster and colleagues (2021) show that a sizable portion of Americans engage in partisan schadenfreude such that they express joy (not concern) when unfortunate events befall those with whom they disagree politically. Similar findings have been reported regarding political schadenfreude and sympathy in Lebanon (Ash & Dolan, 2021). Combs and colleagues (2009) also showed that the intensity of schadenfreude individuals express following hypothetical misfortunes of political leaders is directly related to political party affiliation (controlling for sympathy), such that the misfortune of a Democratic figurehead (out-group member) sparks high levels of schadenfreude in Republicans but not Democrats (and vice versa).…”

Section: Schadenfreude and Sympathy In Political Contextssupporting

confidence: 65%

Schadenfreude and sympathy following President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis: Influence on pre-election voting intentions

Peplak

Klemfuss

Ditto

2022

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

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Schadenfreude and sympathy are often experienced at the intergroup level; however, little research has been conducted to examine their role in one of the most prominent and emotionally evocative intergroup contexts: the political arena. In this study, we assessed a sample of 506 Americans’ (Age M = 41.69 years, SD = 13.94; 57% women) schadenfreude and sympathy (and related cognitions) in response to then-President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis (a salient misfortune of a contentious political figure), and how their schadenfreude, sympathy, and related cognitions were associated with shifts in voting intentions (own and public’s) in the 2020 Presidential Election. We also examined trends in, and associations between, these variables by political affiliation (focusing on Democrats and Republicans) and gender (focusing on men and women). Unsurprisingly, compared to Republicans, Democrats expressed more schadenfreude and less sympathy. Contrary to previous research, however, Democrats’ experiences of schadenfreude were tempered and were primarily driven by deservingness beliefs rather than intergroup competition or malice). Amongst Republicans only, men experienced stronger schadenfreude than women. Regarding voting intentions, participants were more likely to report that the diagnosis would impact shifts in the public’s voting than their own voting, primarily in favor of the Democratic Party. Feelings of schadenfreude and sympathy were not significantly associated with anticipated shifts—rather, those who believed then-President Trump’s diagnosis was deserved (cognition strongly associated with schadenfreude) were four times more likely to believe the public would change their vote to the Democratic Party. These findings are discussed in relation to research at the intersection of psychology and political science and have implications for politicians and psychologists who aim to understand emotions underlying partisanship and voting behavior.

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Section: Schadenfreude and Sympathy In Political Contextssupporting

confidence: 65%

Schadenfreude and sympathy following President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis: Influence on pre-election voting intentions

Peplak

Klemfuss

Ditto

2022

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

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“…As another example, people are less likely to feel empathy and more likely to feel schadenfreude in the face of political repression when the group being repressed is a member of an outgroup rather than an ingroup. The extent of political repression can severe, such as a group peacefully protesting getting killed by the state's army (Ash & Dolan, 2020). The lack of empathy and the increase in schadenfreude makes collective action on behalf of the rival group less likely to occur (Stefaniak et al, 2020), increasing the inequality between political groups in line with ingroup political interests.…”

Section: The Power Of Empathy and Counter-empathy To Enhance Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathic and counter-empathic emotions shape social hierarchy based on group positionality

Hudson¹

2022

Preprint

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Hierarchical relations between social groups are influenced by structural and interpersonal forces that reify or dismantle inequality. Here, I review two categories of emotional antecedents to hierarchy maintenance – empathic and counter-empathic emotions – which directly impact the cooperative or competitive nature of intergroup relations. Empathy is the ability to understand and experience the assumed emotional states of other people while counter-empathy is the ability to understand but experience the opposite assumed emotional states of others. Feeling empathy is affiliative, facilitating group cooperation and social interconnectedness. In contrast, counter-empathy is disaffiliative, facilitating social domination and competition. Asymmetric power hierarchies between groups becomes perpetuated when people affiliate and thus experience empathy towards groups that are at the top of the hierarchy, as well as when people disaffiliate and experience counter-empathy towards groups at the bottom. In contrast, hierarchical relationships become attenuated when people affiliate with those at the bottom of the hierarchy or disaffiliate with those at the top. In this way, the hierarchy attenuating or maintaining consequences of empathy and counter-empathy depend on the target groups’ positionality within the hierarchy, suggesting the importance of contextual power dynamics in understanding the implications of social emotions.

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“…Lebanon as a state is composed of several confessions (approximately eighteen religious' communities) (Henley, 2016;Author, 2019;Majed, 2020). The political system in Lebanon is constructed as the confessional system meaning political power is distributed among the Lebanese communities according to their percentage of the population (Harb, 2006;Calfat, 2018;Ash & Dolan, 2021). The president of Lebanon is a Christian Maronite, the prime minister is a Muslim Sunni, and the speaker of the Parliament is a Muslim Shia (Naor, 2013).…”

Section: Lebanese Sunni Muslims' Narratives On the Political And Reli...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This enables them to constitute an integral part of Lebanon's confessional political system which specifies that the Lebanese president should be a Christian Maronite, the prime minister a Muslim Sunni and the speaker of parliament a Muslim Shia (Lust, 2011;Najem, 2012;Salloukh et al, 2015). Therefore, the confessional system in Lebanon, despite its flaws, has provided opportunities for the Sunnis to hold the position of the prime minister and other key positions in the Lebanese government (Ash & Dolan, 2021;Badran, 2021;Meier and Di Peri, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lebanese Sunni Muslim Politicians’ Narratives on the Political and Religious Leadership of the Lebanese Sunnis: Reconstructing Inclusive Political Leadership in Lebanon

Sayed

2022

IJSSRR

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In this article, Sunni Muslims politicians’ narratives on the political and religious leadership of the Lebanese Sunnis are examined in an effort to reconstruct inclusive political leadership in Lebanon. The Lebanese Sunnis are primary actors in the Lebanese politics. The significant role played by Sunnis is recognised in the National Pact 1943, which paved the way for Lebanon’s independence from France together with the Taif Agreement, which ended Lebanon’s civil war. The signing of the agreements culminated into the establishment of the confessional political system in Lebanon and enabled the Sunnis to constitute an integral part of that system. However, Lebanon is still saddled with internal political problems worsened by the struggle for influence over Lebanon from external actors. The overlapping between domestic and foreign factors is critical in constructing Sunni narratives on their leadership. Sunni framing constructions suggest that the Sunni leadership is galvanising the Sunni community to serve its own interests. The disempowerment of Sunnis is mainly attributed to the failure of their political and religious leadership. This article, therefore, argues for the reconstruction of inclusive leadership in Lebanon. This will enable the Lebanese actors to delegitimise identity politics and promote national cohesion and stability. It also recommends the establishment of independent electoral commissions, prohibition of foreign funding of political groupings, and dismantling of the confessional political system in Lebanon.

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Politics of interconfessional empathy and Schadenfreude in Lebanon

Cited by 5 publications

References 74 publications

Schadenfreude and sympathy following President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis: Influence on pre-election voting intentions

Schadenfreude and sympathy following President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis: Influence on pre-election voting intentions

Empathic and counter-empathic emotions shape social hierarchy based on group positionality

Lebanese Sunni Muslim Politicians’ Narratives on the Political and Religious Leadership of the Lebanese Sunnis: Reconstructing Inclusive Political Leadership in Lebanon

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