Reimagining violence: Social representations, emotions and the politics of resistance

Political violence occupies a contested space shaped by power asymmetries, colonial legacies and competing moral frameworks. Drawing on Social Representations Theory (SRT) and affective polyphasia, this study examines how individuals evaluate the legitimacy of violence as resistance and how emotional repertoires structure these judgements, using a mixed-methods instrument administered to 444 participants across 64 countries. Network analysis identified anger and hope as central, co-occurring emotions with complementary temporal orientations-anchoring resistance in past injustice and future possibility. Factor analysis revealed three emotional repertoires (transformative, self-evaluative, threat) and three dimensions of violence. Emotions were associated with activism indirectly through distinct pathways, varying by type: transformative emotions required cognitive anchoring, self-evaluative emotions involved identity processes and threat emotions reflected ambivalence, with material damage emerging as a key mediator linking systemic critique to action. Cluster analysis identified five emotional profiles varying by geopolitical region and ideology. Findings extend SRT, refine collective action models and challenge linear emotion-action assumptions.