The Role of Moral Anger in Social Change Efforts

Abstract

Drawing upon the functional account of emotions—the view that emotions can facilitate adaptive responses—I analyze how Javed Abidi harnessed moral anger to promote inclusion of persons with disabilities in India. The data comprise articles obtained from digital archives covering the period from 1993, when Abidi began his work, to 2018, when he passed away. Findings suggest that harnessing moral anger can facilitate social change through two mechanisms: disciplined collectivization wherein aggregated stakeholders can appraise injustice; and enabling collective enactment wherein they can redress injustice by choosing if, when, and how to effect change. Despite ongoing propriety breaches, moral anger can remain functional when stakeholders can balance their immersion across initiatives and can perceive change as a beneficial proxy for or an expansion of existing values. As such, the study contributes by drawing attention to the theoretical significance that a functional account has for expanding the literature on moral anger as it applies within the context of social change.