The Sociology Of Emotions

Since the 1970s, the study of emotions moved to the forefront of sociological analysis. This book brings the reader up to date on the theory and research that have proliferated in the analysis of human emotions. The first section of the book addresses the classification, the neurological underpinnings, and the effect of gender on emotions. The second reviews sociological theories of emotion. Section three covers theory and research on specific emotions: love, envy, empathy, anger, grief, etc. The final section shows how the study of emotions adds new insight into other subfields of sociology: the workplace, health, and more.

All social relations involve emotional responses, from the simplest face-to-face encounter through the mobilization of social movements to the commitments that individuals develop for culture and society. The social world is thus dependent upon the arousal of emotions, and equally significant conflict and change in societies is ultimately driven by emotional arousal. Thus, it is important to understand how human emotions influence, and are influenced by, the social world. This understanding takes us into the sociology of emotions that has emerged as a distinct area of inquiry over the last thirty years.

Unique in its approach, Invitation to the Sociology of Emotions treats neophytes as its primary audience, giving students a brief, but thorough, introduction to the sociology of emotions. Including research examples, exercises, and lists of further reading, this text explains as clearly as possible some of the most interesting theoretical concepts that animate sociological research on emotions.

In this book leading sociologists of emotions present their research agendas for work that promises to shape the study of emotions well into the next decade. The essays represent the full range of ideas, issues, and directions in the field. From diverse theoretical positions — symbolic interactionist, social constructionist, feminist, positivist, linguistic, phenomenologist, Marxist, and evolutionist — the authors set forth their current understandings, as well as the directions of future work, with a discussion of the most significant problems in emotions research.

The Political Sociology of Emotions articulates the political sociology of emotions as a sub-field of emotions sociology in relation to cognate disciplines and sub-disciplines. Far from reducing politics to affectivity, the political sociology of emotions is coterminous with political sociology itself plus the emotive angle added in the investigation of its traditional and more recent areas of research. The worldwide predominance of affective anti-politics (e.g., the securitization of immigration policies, reactionism, terrorism, competitive authoritarianism, nationalism and populism, etc.) makes the political sociology of emotions increasingly necessary in making the prospects of democracy and republicanism in the twenty-first century more intelligible. Through a weak constructionist theoretical perspective, the book shows the utility of this new sub-field by addressing two central themes: trauma and ressentiment. Trauma is considered as a key cultural-political phenomenon of our times, evoking both negative and positive emotions; ressentiment is a pertaining individual and collective political emotion allied to insecurities and moral injuries. In tandem, they constitute fundamental experiences of late modern times. The value of the political sociology of emotions is revealed in the analysis of civil wars, cultural traumas, the politics of pity, the suffering of distant others in the media, populism, and national identities on both sides of the Atlantic.

Health and the Sociology of Emotions offers an appraisal of the current lively debates which challenge the contribution of the sociology of emotion to health, and of sociology of health and illness to a sociological understanding of emotion.

This edited collection takes a critical perspective on Norbert Elias’s theory of the "civilizing process," through historical essays and contemporary analysis from sociologists and cultural theorists. It focuses on changes in emotional regimes or styles and considers the intersection of emotions and social change, historically and contemporaneously. The book is set in the context of increasing interest among humanities and social science scholars in reconsidering the significance of emotion and affect in society, and the development of empirical research and theorizing around these subjects. Some have labeled this interest as an "affective turn" or a "turn to affect," which suggests a profound and wide-ranging reshaping of disciplines. Building upon complex theoretical models of emotions and social change, the chapters exemplify this shift in analysis of emotions and affect, and suggest different approaches to investigation which may help to shape the direction of sociological and historical thinking and research.

Emotions are powerful feelings that we don't always understand. Learn how and why humans experience emotions. This title supports NGSS From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes.