Affective Atmospheres: Collective Emotions Inside and Outside the Digital Sphere

Abstract

This chapter explores the concept of atmosphere and highlights its significance for understanding collective meaning-making processes that involve an emotional situatedness component. Specifically, the study aims to address the potential of the atmosphere as an analytical framework for political semiotics, in particular, in the context of political struggles. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part articulates and describes the atmosphere through three dimensions: affective-spatial, semiotic-transformative, and socio-political. The second part focuses on the specificity of the digital environment, considered here as a techno-mediated space of intensification of public life with possible relationships to today’s atmospheric experiences. Finally, this study underscores the relevance of the impact of ‘digital atmospheres’ on the contemporary public sphere, particularly on the dynamics of polarisation, inclusion, and exclusion.