Bridging power resources and social movements: The role of emotional power in collective action

While IR scholars have gained a better understanding of power and collective action from using social movement theory, industrial relations research has remained largely unaffected by their emotional turn . We argue that power resource theory, in particular, could significantly gain explanatory power from integrating the concepts of emotional power (i.e., a strong position within emotional relations and a resource) and emotional habitus (i.e., embodied dispositions towards collective action) into their domain. We demonstrate the plausibility of our approach by conducting a secondary analysis in the field of care work and contribute to solving the puzzle why care workers now increasingly engage in collective action and protests for better pay and working conditions. Alongside the recoding of narrative power resources (e.g., “take care of the care giver”), the development of new emotional positions and dispositions has leveraged and motivated collective action.