Empowerment though Indignation

A Case Study of Spanish Indignados Activists

Abstract

This research investigates activists of the Indignados movement in Spain. It identifies and explores what empowerment mechanisms said activists use in order to overcome alienation. Alienation is the condition they are in, which is greatly shaped by globalization and the Spanish economic crisis. The name chosen by the movement ‘indignados’, meaning indignation, is the reason for the present focus on emotions in academic research on social movements. The movement finds itself in an alienated context, a result of globalization and crisis in Spain around 2011 until the present day (2017). The mechanisms identified to tackle these conditions are the following three. Unthinking in order to be able to think, empowerment through collective action, and embodied empowerment. This paper provides a testimony of five activists and their empowerment mechanisms. Empowerment in this context is a form of dignified life, which is not present in the alienated
conditions they find themselves in.