This paper seeks to explain how and why people join social movements. In a study of the Occupy movement, the authors set out to demonstrate that participation is a function of emotional attachments between participants – attachment through shared emotions regarding the loss of trust in traditional institutions and belief in efficacy of alternative, open, institutions. Using the concept of second-order emotions, the authors argue that the movement through horizontal democracy helps to regulate emotions through recognition of those emotions. The researchers argue that, in addition to a distrust of traditional institutions, social rituals in the Occupy movement serve to fortify collective emotions and create strong bonds between participants.