Pride and Protest: Emotional response in the aftermath of the Chilean social outburst

Abstract

In recent months, Chile, like many other countries around the world, has undergone a wave of widespread street protests calling for structural changes and challenging the “Chilean miracle.” This study uses an interrupted public opinion poll to assess the effect on the moral sentiments of the general population of the first weeks of the Chilean social crisis that began in October 2019. Our findings suggest that emotions toward the country, official symbols, and economic development were negatively affected by the crisis. Protests signaled that not everything in the country was as thought, generating a moral shock that affected shared emotions about the country. However, at the same time, the specific reciprocal moral sentiments between fellow citizens were positively affected. Hence, the social crisis emerges as an opportunity to strengthen collective ties either by sharing sentiments toward who is responsible for the movement or between Chileans. In the aftermath of October 18, the effect on emotions could explain the massive scale and durability of the social movement.

Citizen Complaints as an Accountability Mechanism: Uncovering Patterns Using Topic Modeling

“…This effect is consistent with the accuracy-inducing hypothesis suggested by the institutional trust literature (Hakhverdian and Mayne 2012). In addition, recent studies have shown that the events of the Chilean Spring of October 2019 caused a stronger decline in national pride in this group than among other socio-economic sectors (Olivos, Ayala, and Leyton 2020). These events might have signaled certain structural problems that shift the support for the status quo and conservativism (Barozet and Espinoza 2016; Barozet and Fierro 2011), including the general positive attitudes toward the police that characterize this group (Dammert 2013).…”