It denotes a kind of visceral unease, triggered by personal or public events, that captures people’s attention.
[5] Deborah Gould has suggested another role for moral shocks: radicalizing or reinforcing the commitment of those already active in a protest movement.
The group’s slogan is “Winning Hearts…Changing Minds…and Saving Lives…” [7] Brian Lowe suggests that moral shocks are especially likely when someone holds a sweeping movement ideology that takes the form of a “quasi-religion.”[8] In Chapter 5 of The Art of Moral Protest, Jasper defines a moral shock as "an unexpected event or piece of information [which] raises such a sense of outrage in a person that she becomes inclined toward political action, with or without the network of personal contacts emphasized in mobilization and process theories.
"[9] For example, seeing a documentary about illicit banking practices may motivate an individual to participate in financial reform efforts.
For instance, the aforementioned documentary uses such cognitive devices to get its message across, but it also relies on emotional appeal and the resulting, normatively stronger, sense of moral outrage.