ABSTRACT
Political participation has long been viewed in instrumental terms, as concrete civic activities performed in pursuit of tangible social and economic benefits. Traditionally, participation has also been defined as in-person political involvement, relegating mediated forms of spectatorship and discussion to an inconsequential role. The rise of networked media systems and social media platforms that facilitate content generation and sharing, along with unprecedented horizontal communication among members of the audience, has led some to argue for an indirect form of political action dubbed media participation (Bucy & Gregson, 2001; Bucy & Groshek, 2018). Missing from most discussions about participation, however, are considerations about the motivations for involvement beyond the political socialization process. Thus, this chapter rethinks participation from the perspective of emotion at the individual level and analyzes how affective displays internalized by audiences from cues in immersive, 360-degree presentations of political protest serve as invitations to participation by generating empathetic responses that result in increased interest in issues, campaigns, and causes.
