Sociopolitical Development as Emotional Work: How Young Organizers Engage Emotions to Support Community Organizing for Transformative Racial Justice

Abstract

A theoretical and empirical reflection on the possibilities of broadening sociopolitical development (SPD) to consider how emotional work contributes to the development of a sociopolitical emotional awareness among young organizers resisting racial injustices is discussed. Sociopolitical emotional awareness brings together the intellectual and the emotional through sociopolitical engagement practices of discerning emotions through critical reflection, de/re-centering emotions and anchoring affirming emotions. We observed these practices among young organizers in youth community organizing (YCO) settings where SPD was a priority yet emotional work surfaced as an important component. We offer a conceptual framework for emotional work that extends SPD and is informed by analyses of our interview and fieldnote data of three YCO sites that supported youth in their organizing. Through this work we aim to expand current SPD theorizing, while challenging existing youth development frameworks that overlook the role of emotions in relation to collection action aimed at actualizing transformative racial justice. We conclude with implications and future directions on the significance of emotional work within YCO settings in particular. Moreover, we see emotions as essential to a young organizer’s SPD, inclusive of their efforts toward actualizing equitable, healthy and thriving anti-racist school and community environments.

“Actually Changing Our Way of Being”: Transformative Organizing and Implications for Critical Community-Engaged Scholarship

“…These converging challenges point to the importance of youth organizing groups to address structural and emotional dimensions of racialized injustice. Organizing groups validate the understandable emotions of youth of color and continue pressure on institutions to implement policy wins (Fernández and Watts 2023;Lin 2022;Lin and Patraporn 2022;Ortega-Williams et al 2020). Yet activism can also compound the negative health impacts of racism, sexism, and ageism (Gorski 2018;Harris-Perry 2018;Hope et al 2017).…”

Sociopolitical development and social identities

“…In Ms. Magazine (2022), national polling expert Celinda Lake claimed: “The ERA is very, very powerful… much more powerful than people understand in terms of motivating people to vote, and that's going to be a very important factor in 2022 in particular.” Perseverance is a “win” and beneficial outcome for young people. Political work is also socioemotional development, because leadership skills and teamwork are essential to building movements—and a win for positive youth development (Fernández & Watts, 2022; McGarvey & Mackinnon, 2008; Watts, 2018).…”

“…Reflection and action certainly work together, but it can be useful to distinguish the two for theoretical and research purposes. Although CSA is a purely intellectual process in this theory, cognition can trigger emotions that can used constructively or otherwise (Fernández & Watts, 2022). The focus here is limited to CSA's elements, such as knowledge, logic, inference, and evidence.…”

“…Perseverance is a "win" and beneficial outcome for young people. Political work is also socioemotional development, because leadership skills and teamwork are essential to building movements-and a win for positive youth development (Fernández & Watts, 2022;McGarvey & Mackinnon, 2008;Watts, 2018).…”