Award Date
5-15-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Sociology
First Committee Member
Robert Futrell
Second Committee Member
Fatima Suarez
Third Committee Member
Michael Borer
Fourth Committee Member
Benjamin Burroughs
Number of Pages
249
Abstract
This dissertation extends recent sociological research and theorizing addressing political performances among social movement activists by examining how activists perform their politics at the micro-interaction level with a generally like-minded audience. Drawing on participant observation, online ethnography, and semi-structured interviews with conservative activists in Southern Nevada, this dissertation explains how conservative activists sustain commitment and collective identity between mobilizations through micro-interaction level political performances. The activists examined here use repeated performances to generate emotional energy, enforce local standards for proof and appropriate emotion, and construct symbolic boundaries that stabilize participation during lulls. My results show how political performances produce, police, and route emotions. Activists not only strategize or deliberate, but also build and police feeling rules, stage rituals that generate shared emotional energy, and manage one another’s fear, grief, and anger. Gender also shapes political performances. Performances are not “gender neutral,” and men and women have different performance repertoires available to them. Finally, among the activists I study, conspiracist talk appears as routine political practice. When performing conspiracies, activists construct appropriate knowledge and feeling rules that maintain their identity, harden boundaries, and offer calls to action. Overall, my results demonstrate that performances operate as interactional infrastructure for movement persistence. Activists generate shared emotions through atmospheres and rituals, convert those feelings into commitment by policing what counts as credible conduct, credible gender, and credible knowledge.
Keywords
activism; conservative politics; emotions; identity; performance; social movements
Disciplines
Politics and Social Change | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Sociology
File Format
File Size
1267 KB
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Repository Citation
Wagner, Emily, "Performing Politics: Identity, Emotions and Micro-level Activist Displays" (2026). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 5650.
https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/5650
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/