From spectators to participants: A study of affective intelligence, media uses, and political participation in Hong Kong

Researchers once characterized Hong Kong people as “attentive spectators” as they were quite informed of public affairs but were rather inactive in political participation. Recent on-going protests in Hong Kong, however, seem to paint a different picture. To demand a true universal suffrage to no avail, hundreds of thousands of residents, full of frustrations and anger, took to the street and kicked off the month-long ‘Umbrella Movement.’ Scholars have demonstrated that emotions may play an important role in mobilization. Ordinary people also use affections to help manage their attention to the political world. We thus ask: To what extent do individuals make political choices provoked by their feelings? To what extent would individuals act upon their feelings such as enthusiasm, anger, or anxiety in the political process? What roles do the media, new and old, play in shaping the emotional climate of debates? A probability survey was conducted in early 2014 with a sample size of 493. Results showed that anger was positively associated with individuals’ participation in rallies and demonstrations, while fear was highly correlated with political knowledge. The effects of news media on political participation were conditional. News media were found to have a stronger impact on individual participation in demonstrations for those who were angry and less enthusiastic about the milieu in Hong Kong.