Anger is a business

[Commentary] Anger seems to define the 2016 election. Donald Trump is riding Republican voters' rage to a possible nomination, while Sen Bernie Sanders's (I-VT) fiery call for revolution has rattled his party’s establishment. Anger, however, is not simply an attitude finding an outlet in this year's candidates. Anger is also a commodity, a business product successfully marketed to select customers.

The companies within America's outrage industry are sophisticated enterprises built on modern analytics. Measurement tools immediately convey what content is working to generate "stickiness" with viewers, listeners, and readers. Outrage businesses, particularly Fox and talk radio networks, appeal primarily to conservatives. MSNBC draws only a small audience and there is virtually no liberal presence on talk radio. Outrage discourse involves efforts to provoke emotional responses, (especially anger, fear, and moral indignation) from the audience through the use of overgeneralizations, sensationalism, patently inaccurate information, and belittling ridicule of opponents. Outrage sidesteps the messy nuances of complex political issues in favor of melodrama, misrepresentative exaggeration, and hyperbolic forecasts of impending doom.

[Jeffrey M. Berry is Skuse Professor of Political Science and Sarah Sobieraj is associate professor of sociology at Tufts University.]