Affective Solidarity Research Articles

Using the intergenerational solidarity framework to understand the grandparent-grandchild relationship: a scoping review.

Intergenerational interactions and exchange are major components of grandparenting, and the present study sought to examine how the intergenerational solidarity framework has been used to investigate grandparenting practices across the lifespan and in different cultures. This framework is widely used across cultures and provides a basis to discuss the future of grandparenting research, considering cultural intermingling and changes in society. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched three databases (PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science). Finally, 42 empirical studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in this scoping review. They were published between 1991 and 2020 and assessed intergenerational solidarity between grandparents and their grandchildren. Our findings show that research on grandparenting based on the intergenerational solidarity framework has increased in the last 30years, and that this model provides a comprehensive approach to studying grandparenting across the lifespan in different cultures. The present study identified cross-cultural differences in the prevalence of the types of intergenerational solidarity. Affectual solidarity was shown to be the most studied dimension of intergenerational solidarity in North America, Europe and Israel, while normative solidarity was the most represented in Asian studies. The only Australian study investigated affectual and functional solidarity. This model is thus suitable for studying grandparenting, but further studies are needed to investigate changes in intergenerational solidarity between grandparents and their grandchildren at different stages of development and account for cultural specificities.

Gender differences in the relationship between social support and strain and mortality among a national sample of adults.

We assessed gender differences in the relationship between mortality and social support, strain, and affectual solidarity received from family, friends and spouses. Data of 6259 adults from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) survey were analyzed. Cox proportional hazards were used to assess relationships between mortality and support, strain, and affectual solidarity and whether the associations varied by gender. Support from family, friends, and spouses/partners and friend affectual solidarity were associated with lower mortality in the total sample. Friend strain was associated with higher mortality in the total sample. Family support and family, friend, and spouse affectual solidarity were associated with lower mortality in women. Friend and spouse strain were associated with a higher mortality for women. Support from friends, family and spouse are beneficial for reducing mortality in men and women. Friend and spouse strain are targets for minimizing mortality risk in women.

Adult daughters’ emotional response to COVID-19: the role of worry, solidarity, conflict, and ambivalence in the relationship with the mother

Objectives: Older adults’ greater susceptibility to mortality from COVID-19 may have meaningful psychological implications not only for them, but also for their children. In this study, we focused on daughters of older women and examined the intergenerational relationships as a correlate of daughters’ anxiety, depressive symptoms, and psychosomatic complaints. Method: Data were collected from 456 daughters of older mothers (M(age) = 40.82) during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Israel, when a relatively strict lockdown was enforced, separating mothers and daughters. Results: Findings suggest that while mothers’ objective risk factors (age and morbidity) were mostly not associated with their daughters’ distress, the daughters’ concern about their mothers, and their perceived ambivalence in the relationship with the mother, as well as structural and affectual solidarity, were. Conclusion: We conclude that the mother-daughter relationship is an important correlate of daughters’ reactions to this health crisis. Practically, it suggests that some daughters to aging mothers could be at a greater risk for emotional distress following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Affective Strategies of Abolition Pedagogies in Higher Education: Dismantling the Affective Governmentality of the Colonial University

ABSTRACT I highlight the importance of paying attention to the affective strategies of abolition pedagogies in higher education to mobilize abolitionist praxis. Affective strategies can make a contribution in either changing or reproducing the affective culture that has long been established at the colonial university. In the analysis here, I argue that the affective strategy of invoking sentimental empathy, which is often used in education when addressing issues of slavery, racism, and coloniality, is not only superficial but also reproduces colonial-feeling rules. Instead, I suggest a number of affective strategies—such as mobilizing affective solidarity with the affective worlds of marginalized students and identifying complicity, while engaging in anticomplicity praxes—that enable educators and students to begin imagining and enacting the abolition university. I argue that a more comprehensive understanding of abolition pedagogies in higher education can be attained by a heightened attention to the affective challenges entailed in abolitionist pedagogical praxis.

Heart, Mind and Body: #NoMorePage3 and the Replenishment of Emotional Energy

Emotional energy is key to disruptive institutional work, but we still know little about what it is, and importantly, how it is refuelled. This empirical paper presents an in-depth case study of ‘No More Page 3’ (#NMP3), an Internet-based feminist organization which fought for the removal of sexualized images of women from a UK newspaper. Facing online misogyny, actors engage in ‘emotional energy replenishment’ to sustain this disruptive institutional work amid emotional highs and lows. We introduce ‘affective embodiment’ – the corporeal and emotional experiences of the institution – as providing emotional energy in relation to disruptive institutional work. Affective embodiment is surfaced through alignment or misalignment with others’ embodied experiences, and this mediates how actors replenish emotional energy. Alignment with others’ embodied experiences, often connected to online abuse, means emotional energy is replenished through ‘affective solidarity’ (movement towards the collective). Misalignment, surfaced through tensions within the movement, means actors seek replenishment through ‘sensory retreat’ (movement away from the collective). This study contributes to theorization on institutional work and emotional energy by recentring the importance of the body alongside emotions, as well as offering important lessons for online organizing.

A Dyadic Analysis of Grandparent and Adult Grandchildren Solidarity and Topic Avoidance

ABSTRACT The grandparent-adult grandchild relationship is integral to the health and preservation of the family. The intergenerational relationship makes several transformations as each party ages and experiences life transitions. This study used actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) to examine affectual and consensual solidarity and topic avoidance in the grandparent-adult grandchild dyad. The sample for this quantitative study included 62 grandparent-adult grandchild dyads, with the grandchild sampling drawn from college students. Results indicate that both grandparents and grandchildren reported lower consensual solidarity when they avoided topics to protect their relationship. Grandparents reported higher consensual solidarity when their grandchildren avoided topics to protect this intergenerational relationship. Both grandparents and adult grandchildren experienced meaning and burden in the grandparent-adult grandchild relationship.

Effect of Interpersonal Differentiation on Affectual Solidarity among Mother-in-law and Son-in-law: The Mediating Effect of Marital Satisfaction

Effect of Interpersonal Differentiation on Affectual Solidarity among Mother-in-law and Son-in-law: The Mediating Effect of Marital Satisfaction

Frequency of Contact and Explanations for Increased Contact between Grandchildren and Their Grandparents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT This study examined grandparent-grandchild contact during the COVID-19 pandemic using principles of Intergenerational Solidarity Theory as a framework. Young adults (N= 165) completed an online survey about contact with grandparents before and during the pandemic. Participants also provided ratings of affectual solidarity toward grandparents and grandparents’ physical and mental health. A subsample of participants (n= 31) explained reasons for increased telephone contact with grandparents. Median frequency of grandchild-initiated contact with grandparents increased marginally during the pandemic, and higher ratings of affectual solidarity toward grandparents were significantly associated with increases in frequency of contact. Ratings of grandparents’ physical and mental health were not significantly associated with changes in frequency of contact from before the pandemic to during the pandemic. The most common explanation for increased contact with grandparents during the pandemic reported by study participants was concern about COVID-19. Findings support Intergenerational Solidarity Theory and underscore its interaction with historical moments, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reciprocal Associations Between Normative, Affectual, and Associational Solidarity With Parents in Young Adults

Intergenerational solidarity has become important as close family ties mobilize the provision of social support across generations and contribute to the family wellbeing. One popular approach to studying intergenerational cohesion in aging families is through the theoretical construct of intergenerational solidarity. However, less is known about the longitudinal and reciprocal associations between normative, affectual, and associational solidarity with mothers and fathers among young-adult children in the transition to adulthood. On the basis of the theoretical construct of intergenerational solidarity, we examined the reciprocal associations between three dimensions of intergenerational solidarity (normative, affectual, and associational) with parents in young-adult children from their early twenties to late thirties. Data were derived from 287 mother-son, 325 mother-daughter, 262 father-son, and 297 father-daughter groups who participated in the Longitudinal Study of Generations between 2000 and 2016. Autoregressive cross-lagged model with latent variables predicted the causal relations between three dimensions of solidarity across four parent-child groups. We found that young-adult sons’ perceived associational solidarity with parents predicted normative solidarity over time, whereas young-adult daughters’ perceived affectual solidarity with mothers predicted normative solidarity over time. In addition, young-adult daughters’ perceived normative solidarity predicted affectual solidarity for fathers over time. The present study found that young-adult sons and daughters have different ways establishing normative solidarity in their early twenties to late thirties according to parents’ gender. In addition, this study found that normative solidarity is beneficial for young-adult daughters developing emotional closeness with fathers over time.

Multidimensional Profiles of Religiosity: Do They Matter for Gen-Xers’ Psychological and Familial Well-Being?

Although researchers have suggested that religiosity is a multidimensional construct, less is known about the long-term effects of religiosity profiles on Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) adults’ psychological and familial wellbeing over the life courses. Thus, the goal of this study is (1) to identify unobserved profiles of young-adult Gen-Xers’ religiosity based on religious attendance, religious intensity, spirituality, and religious ideology, (2) to investigate demographic factors that predict membership in these religiosity latent classes, and (3) to examine how these profiles of religiosity predict Gen-Xers’ psychological wellbeing (self-esteem, life satisfaction, and depression) and familial wellbeing (martial satisfaction, and affectual and associational solidarity toward their aging parents) in early and middle adulthood. We selected 462 Gen-Xers from the Longitudinal Study of Generation in the 2005 (mean age = 30.25) and the 2016 waves (mean age = 41.25). In terms of data analysis, the three-step latent class analysis was conducted. We identified four religiosity profiles among young-adult Gen-Xers: strongly religious, weakly religious, literalists but not religious, religious but not literalists. Less educated single Gen-Xers were more likely to be in the strongly religious class, and less likely to be in other classes. Gen-Xers in the strongly religious class reported high scores of psychological and familial wellbeing than those in other religiosity classes. Given that the religiosity of the U.S. population has declined substantially over the past few decades, our findings indicate that religiosity is an important resource for Gen-X adults’ psychological and familial wellbeing.

The biopolitical function of disgust: ethical and political implications of biopedagogies of disgust in anti-colonial education

ABSTRACT This paper presents how biopedagogies of disgust can make a contribution to challenging the colonial order that is sustained through affective economies of disgust. It is argued that, for this to happen, teachers need to move students away from the negative affective responses of disgust towards an affirmation of radical difference. Affective solidarity, in particular, might serve as a foundational element of affirmative biopedagogies of disgust and provide a means to reversing the negative role of disgust in colonial continuity. It is argued that fostering affective solidarity is an ethically, politically and pedagogically valuable strategy, because it does not only generate empathy for the colonized Others’ suffering throughout history, but it also cultivates in students commitment to turn critical self-reflection on the visceral elements of disgust into transformative action.

Older People’s Life Satisfaction, Health and Intergenerational Relationships in Vietnam

Health is considered one of the domains to assess people’s life satisfaction. However, other factors including social relationships are also as crucial as health in determining their life assessment, particularly among older adults in Asia. This paper used the data of Vietnam National Ageing Survey 2011 (VNAS 2011) to examine life satisfaction of Vietnamese older people’s (aged 60 and older) in rural and urban areas in relation to their health conditions and their social relationships, including with adult children. Logistic regression was employed and revealed that sufficient income had positive influence on older people’s satisfaction of life in both rural and urban areas (Rural OR 2.27; 95% CI 1.72–2.99; Urban OR 2.30; 95% CI 1.47–3.58). Difficulties with mobility and sleeping were negatively associated with older person’s life satisfaction, however, affectual solidarity was the most influential factor (Rural OR 5.88; 95% CI 4.40–7.83; Urban OR 5.92; 95% CI 3.52–9.93). Therefore, intergenerational relationships are vital to older people’s life satisfaction beyond health, income, household socioeconomic status, which varied between rural and urban areas. Living in multigenerational households, and children daily call positively shapes the assessment of life among older people who live in urban areas, while it is social and entertaining activities that significantly contribute to life satisfaction of older people in rural areas.

FUCK YOUR FEELINGS: THE AFFECTIVE WEAPONISATION OF FACTS AND REASON

This paper examines emerging trends in fact signaling: the performative invocation of the idea of Fact and Reason, distinct from the concrete presentation of evidence or reasoning, as a way to cultivate affective solidarity. Emblematic is the conservative influencer Ben Shapiro’s slogan, “facts don’t care about your feelings”: a paean to the mythological figure of emotionlessly objective truth which may then be weaponised against one’s enemies. Scholars are increasingly attentive to the ways in which what was once popularised as a ‘fake news’ epidemic is not simply a virulent strain of bad information in a fundamentally rational online ecosystem, but rather a broader crisis and transformation of what counts as truthful, trustworthy and authentic (e.g. Boler & Davis, 2018; also see Banet-Weiser, 2012). Our contribution emphasises the affective and habitual dimension of this phenomenon. Through a close analysis of Ben Shapiro’s content and personal brand, we show how the generic invocation of Fact and Reason cultivates a sense of affective attachment not defined by ideological consistency or, indeed, the actual practice of research or logical reasoning, but rather a particularly masculinised and adversarial ideal of Truth. The payoff is the reassurance and pleasure of a stable subject position from which one’s political opposition may be Othered with impunity. Facts may not care about your feelings, but insisting upon this fact is all about building a certain structure of feeling.

Sleep quality and anger expression: An examination of psychosocial mechanisms across the adult lifespan

Despite perceptions that older adults will “age out” of violent or aggressive behaviors, aggression remains a unique concern in late-life and can have severe implications for this age group. Emerging research has investigated a universal health behavior – sleep – as a risk and protective factor for aggressive behavior. However, little is known about how sleep and aggression may be linked in older adulthood or about the role of potential psychosocial mechanisms linking sleep and aggression. Consequently, the overall aim of the present study is to extend our understanding of the sleep—aggression link to older adulthood and to examine psychosocial factors as potential links of this association in a national sample of adults. Data from national sample of 816 adults from the Midlife in the United States dataset, were used to link sleep quality to anger expressed outwards via psychosocial mediators. Age differences in these associations were also examined. Using moderated parallel mediation models, poorer sleep quality predicted the expression of anger outwards via emotional (angrier affect, 95% CI [0.040, 0.137]) and cognitive (poorer perceptions of solidarity with family [0.001, 0.025], and affective solidarity towards a spouse or partner [0.019, 0.068]) pathways. However, there were significant age differences in these pathways with anger expression for older adults less driven by angry affect and more so by perceptions of solidarity with a spouse or partner. Sleep quality is tied to cognitive perceptions of relationships, although the target of these perceptions, and the subsequent links with anger expressions, depends on age. Therapeutic interventions for relational skills may need a different focus at different timepoints across the lifespan. Although angry affect emerged as a pathway for younger and middle-aged adults, managing anger may be less relevant than coping with perceptions of interpersonal relationships for older adults. • Sleep quality is a risk and protective factor for aggressive behavior. • Little is known about how sleep and aggression may be linked in older adulthood. • Using moderated parallel mediation models, poorer sleep quality predicted the expression of anger outwards via emotional and cognitive pathways. • Poorer sleep quality predicted the expression of anger outwards via emotional and cognitive pathways. • Anger expression for older adults driven more by perceptions of solidarity with a spouse/partner than by angry affect.

‘I want to delete this tweet so much, but…’: Jameela Jamil as a celebrity feminist educator

The ideas of outspoken feminist celebrities are met with scepticism. This scepticism is rooted in the idea that, while celebrities have a platform for expression, they are not academics and their role in education should therefore be limited. This article explores the role of Jameela Jamil, a British, queer actor, and analyses her use of Instagram and Twitter as platforms for education and social change. I argue that she uses social media to teach and learn from her followers regarding body acceptance, racial and sexual inclusivity and queer representation. This work also explores the realities of clapbacks, cancel culture, mistake-making, shame culture and affective solidarity via her use of language, such as through the vulnerable phrase ‘I want to delete this tweet so much, but…’. In positioning Jamil as more than simply a celebrity feminist, and beyond what is considered a normative public intellectual, I assert that she embodies the role of a celebrity feminist educator. This role is unique as it creates space for Jamil’s online feminist activism, her accessible use of language and her desire to teach and learn from her followers to be made meaningful within the context of feminist education and celebrity studies.

Women’s Entrepreneurship and Political Engagement: The Impact of the Arab Spring

With the Arab Spring sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa, combined with a global renewal of the women’s movement, feminist organising and activism is as timely now as it has ever been. This paper conceptualises feminist affective solidarity in the Middle Eastern context of Saudi Arabia. The research is a longitudinal study, which includes interviews with 16 Saudi women between 2010-2019 exploring their infrapolitical activism and feminist affective solidarity as entrepreneurs. Based on the situated and contextualised understanding of feminist affective solidarity in Saudi Arabia- where women’s activism has been morphed into a form of “Western” neoliberal transgression against the Islamic country and patriarchal traditions- the research investigates how feminist solidarity takes place, with a specific focus on uncovering the legitimate infrapolitical practices that Saudi women employ in order to engage in feminist solidarity and political activism through entrepreneurship. The findings highlight the essential role of the situated historical, social, political and economic context that impacts women’s opportunities for activism and feminist solidarity in the movement, while appreciating the paradoxical roles they are meant to uphold, as the “ideal Islamic woman”, maintaining legitimacy for the monarchy and the state, and the symbol of “modernity”.

Counteracting Challenges to Gender Equality in the Era of Anti-Gender Campaigns: Competing Gender Knowledges and Affective Solidarity

Abstract This article focuses on the epistemic strategies employed by ultraconservative movements to oppose women’s reproductive rights and the ways in which the women’s movement counteracts these efforts. The core argument is that nowadays the opponents of gender equality and sexual democracy are seeking not only political but also epistemic power, producing a new body of gender knowledge. A detailed analysis of the struggles around the 2016 Stop Abortion bill in Poland shows, however, that the women’s movement can counteract these challenges by mobilizing not only medical and legal expertise, but also tacit knowledge and affects.

Avós e netos frente às novas tecnologias no Brasil e em Portugal

Duas das características marcantes da sociedade no século XXI têm sido o aumento progressivo da população idosa e o avanço cada vez mais intenso das tecnologias de informação e comunicação. Este estudo objetivou apresentar uma revisão integrativa da literatura científica sobre o tema relação entre avós e netos diante das novas tecnologias no Brasil e em Portugal, buscando conhecer como tecnologias de informação para netos e avós; descrever uma relação dos avos que acompanham o crescimento dos netos através do espaço virtual; e identifique a percepção dos dados em relação ao comportamento dos avós diante das novas tecnologias. Utilizou-se artigos publicados em fontes de impacto, de modo a permitir um maior direcionamento de pesquisas sobre esta temática e discutir como tendências apontadas por estas publicações, bem como as perspectivas de produção na área. Foram selecionados artigos indexados nas bases de dados nacionais e internacionais, entre 2011 e 2019. Como mostrado, pode-se observar quais são as tendências para o uso de ferramentas viabilizáveis e promover relações afetivas e solidárias entre duas vezes; fornece uma aquisição de competências básicas para interação / comunicação; desenvolver uma cooperação e confiança, fazer com que essa relação seja fortalecida ou com o tempo pela proximidade e cumplicidade entre os atores familiares, que não dialogam no ciberespaço e fortalecem os relacionamentos afetivos e intergeracionais.

#notokay: Challenging sexual violence through digital health activism

ABSTRACT An analysis of #notokay tweets revealed that tweets constructed a grassroots health activist discourse that made visible the ‘invisible’ pervasiveness of sexual assault by encouraging women to disclose assault in a digital space of affective solidarity. The campaign captured a multiplicity of embodied assault experiences, dispelled rape myths, and challenged and broadened mainstream conceptualizations of assault. It aimed at transformative change by politicizing the public health issue of sexual violence by highlighting the socioenvironmental determinants of assault – a patriarchal culture that condones and fosters violence against women and does not prioritize women’s health. By offering rich qualitative data on the magnitude, characteristics, and consequences of sexual violence via the lived experiences of women shared through tweets, digital health activist campaigns like #notokay have the potential to complement traditional public health surveillance systems of violence against women, and thereby raise the visibility of this issue.

“Their wounds are our wounds”: a case for affective solidarity between Palestine and Kashmir

ABSTRACT Both Palestine and the Indian held Kashmir have become hallmarks of a postcolonial siege manifest in heavy militarisation, illegal occupation, human rights violations, and an excruciating love born from and for people’s resistance and solidarity. While different, strong overlaps exist between the two conflicts in having been midwifed by the waning British Empire in 1947; subsequent internationalisation and fighting against a type of contemporary international politics that subsumes them under so-called ‘Islamic terrorism.’ Also noticeable is the motif of ‘suffering’ that makes the tragedy of Kashmir resonate with the pathos of Palestine. This paper focuses on the vantage from Kashmir, where people herald the Palestinian struggle as pioneering and a beacon of just struggle. I illustrate how Kashmiris, have come to harbour for the Palestinians an ‘affective solidarity’ which is evident in their modes of resistance to lend support for the liberation of Palestine and credibility to the Kashmir’s own resistance movement.