RN11 – Sociology of emotions

Coordinators:
Jochen Kleres jkleres@gmx.de University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Stina Bergman Blix Stina.BergmanBlix@sociology.su.se Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Sylvia Terpe sylvia.terpe@soziologie.uni-halle.de Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

Sessions

• 01RN11 Theorizing Emotions
  chair: Katharina Scherke <katharina.scherke@uni-graz.at> University of Graz

  Key theoretical frameworks for the sociological analysis of emotions have stood the test of time during more than thirty years since they launched the sociology of emotions. Nevertheless, the potential for sociological theorizing of emotions is far from exhausted. For instance, the classics of sociology, far from mute on emotions, provide a valuable source of inspiration. Theoretical frameworks such as that of Norbert Elias may also engender innovative theorizing. While sociological interest in emotions is swiftly growing, emotions are still not recognized by mainstream social theorizing as a fundamental aspect of social life. We want to encourage contributions that try to develop innovative theories of emotions as well as theories that demonstrate how emotions can be integrated into social theorizing more generally.

• 02RN11 Emotions, Power Relations and Moral Orders

  chair: Sylvia Terpe sylvia.terpe@soziologie.uni-halle.de University of Halle

• 03RN11 Morality, Values and Emotions
  chair: Sylvia Terpe <sylvia.terpe@soziologie.uni-halle.de> University of Halle

  Morality, moral orientations and moral values have a long tradition in sociological research and theorizing. But how is their relation with emotions to be conceptualized? Are there particular ‘moral emotions’, and if so what constitutes a ‘moral emotion’? How are moral orientations and moral actions affected by emotions? Do emotions qualify as a substitute for lacking moral values? We welcome theoretical contributions as well as empirical studies dedicated to these questions.

• 04RN11 Finance

  Recent periods of economic turmoil in the world have the potential of shaking entrenched beliefs in the sober objective rationality of the economic sphere and its actors. Arguably, not only the recurring economic crises but also everyday finance business demonstrate that emotions are a key to all economic action and finance in particular.

• 05RN11 Emotions in Institutional Settings
  chair: Jochen Kleres <jkleres@gmx.de> University of Gothenburg
• 06RN11 Methods
  chair: Helena Flam <flam@sozio.uni-leipzig.de> University of Leipzig

  There is still a dearth of methodological reflection for empirical emotion research. We welcome papers that present approaches to studying emotions empirically. Specific issues could include, but are not limited to: how can researchers deal with their own emotions within the analysis? How can one delineate an emotional culture empirically? How can one approach emotions within a transnational analysis? How can different approaches to empirical research inform a focus on emotions? How would they have to be developed?

• 07RN11 Post-Atrocities Emotions
  chair: Helena Flam <flam@sozio.uni-leipzig.de> University of Leipzig

  In the past two-three decades resurgence in idealism, calling on societies split by violent conflicts to pursue truth, justice and reconciliation (often cast as a preconditions for making a transition to democracy), has re-asserted itself. Both trans-nationally and in each of the societies whose members had taken part in atrocities, there are attempts to formulate rules for post-atrocity times which spell out which emotions are prescribed and which are proscribed. Contributions are welcome highlighting in a critical way these emotional regimes and the vested interests behind them. How are emotions and emotional practices used and negotiated in order to come to terms with what has happened, to castigate perpetrators or to heal and forgive? This might also relate to explorations into the emotional dimensions of trauma.

• 08RN11 Migration and Ethnic Diversity
  chair: Mary Holmes <mary.holmes@flinders.edu.au> Flinders University

  Possible issues could include, but are not limited to: the role of emotions in migration regimes, the emotional underpinnings and experiences of racism, emotion in media discourses on migration, emotions in migrant mobilization, etc.

• 09RN11 Civic Action
  chair: Åsa Wettergren <asa.wettergren@sociology.gu.se> University of Gothenburg

  While emotions have enjoyed sustained attention in social movement research, the role of emotions in other forms of civic action, such as volunteerism or para-professionalism, remains to be investigated. We invite presentations that explore the role of emotions in all forms of civic action.

• 10RN11 Emotions in Intimate Life
  chair: Stina Bergmann Blix <stina.bergmanblix@sociology.su.se> University of Stockholm

  Intimate life may seem like the primary sphere of emotions. While this notion could be contested on other grounds, closer analysis also shows how emotions in the intimate sphere are complexly embedded into larger social processes and macro-social structures.

• 11RN11 Emergence and Reproduction of Groups and Collectivities
  chair: Christian von Scheve <christian.von.scheve@fu-berlin.de> Free University of Berlin

  Much has been said on emotions’ binding groups and collectivities by the classics of sociology, but their contributions have not yet led to a coherent research agenda. In a transnational world the question should be addressed anew in what ways and by what means groups and collectivities emerge and become sustained, paying particular attention to the role of emotions and emotionally grounded stereotyping in this process. What is the contribution of sports, mass media, culture, art, education or politics to evoking and sustaining emotions that in turn generate small group and larger collective life? Which of their specific traits evoke collectivity-generating emotions? Do they evoke similar or different emotions? Do they have the same or different size publics? Is there a division of labor between them or do they perhaps compete or even undermine each other? In a transnational context, what is their emotion-laden contribution to reminding of, reporting on, creating, competing with, loving and/or hating ‘the other’—whether situated among ‘us’ or across the border(s)?

• 12RN11 Space, Objects and Emotions

  The sociology of emotions explores in many ways the social nature of emotions, locating them anywhere from the interpersonal sphere to macro-sociological structures. There is much less of a focus on how emotions signify in our material or materially constructed surroundings. How are space and emotions interrelated? And how do objects and artefacts contribute to emotional experience?

• 13RN11 Mediated Emotions
  chair: Stina Bergmann Blix <stina.bergmanblix@sociology.su.se> University of Stockholm

  Media, including not only the conventional press or television but also the internet and new forms of mass communication, continue to gain importance in shaping social realities. What role do media play in shaping emotions in society and how in turn are media affected by emotional processes in society?

• 14RN11 Gestures and Emotions

  There is some research on how language conveys emotions as well as on how emotions become visible on people’s faces. But there is little thought on how actors use gestures to communicate emotions. This relates to research into how the emotional content of visuals can be deciphered, a question that has been partly dealt with in history and art history.

• 15RN11 Emotions and Power
  chair: Christian von Scheve <christian.von.scheve@fu-berlin.de> Free University Berlin
• 16RN11 Emotionally Bounded: Specific Forms of Emotional Attachment
• 17RN11 Emotions at Work
  chair: Åsa Wettergren <asa.wettergren@sociology.gu.se> University of Gothenburg

Joint Sessions

• 11JS20JS28 – Emotions, Objectification and Reflexivity in Qualitative Body and Sport Research

  Joint session with RN20 – Qualitative Methods and RN28 – Society and Sports

  Chairs: Monica Aceti, Haifa Tlili, Sven Ismer & Katarina Jacobsson

  We invite researchers working on subjects that engage the body in situations of various interactions (physical, sports, arts, in professional or leisure situation) to question their practices and their emotional commitment in their field. Three perspectives will be favoured.

  • Discuss the opportunities, limitations and bias of different versions of participant observation. One of the main issues is to question the researcher’s choice when faced with the challenging dialectic of subjective and emotional connection to the field and the aim of “axiological neutrality” required by the scientific posture. An object held at a distance or “blindness” in the field? Therefore, we will question the different types and occurrences of ethnocentrism, androcentrism an hegemonic Doxa which very often remain invisible.
  • Take the measurement, in the objectification work, on the importance of autobiographical determinations, in order to clarify the researcher’s situated point of view (age, sexuality, social class, sex, race, etc.). We will examine in particular the heuristic advantages, which this involvement can contribute to the construction of a scientific object or on the contrary, it may misrepresent the content.
  • The emotions of the researcher in the field have a crucial impact on the way he or she perceives reality which has been widely neglected by methodological debates. We encourage contributions that reflect on the researcher’s affectivity and its impact on the collection and interpretation of data.

  Ultimately, we invite the presenters to make a reflexive return on their research subject by shifting the focus on the social, cultural, spatiotemporal or even, in connection with biographical transformations (accidents, maternity, mourning, etc.) or structural events (institutional changes, crisis, disaster, etc.).

• 11JS25 – Joint Session Social Movements and Emotion

  Joint session with RN25 – Social Movements

  Chairs: Marianne van der Steeg & Jochen Kleres

  Since about a decade scholars investigating various social movements have increasingly paid attention to emotions. This session calls for papers highlighting emotions – in theorizing or empirical research. Papers are welcome, for example, on the role emotions (i) in constituting the identities of different types of activists and/or movements; (ii) in short-term protest as well as in initiating, sustaining and ending social movements; (iii) among by-standers and authorities regarding/engaging with the protest/movement; (iv) in protest/movement visuals and discourses; (v) in protest/movement rituals, individual narratives and collective mythmaking, etc. etc.

• 11JS34 – Affects and Emotions in the Field of Religion

  Joint session with RN34 – Sociology of Religion

  Chairs: Stef Aupers <aupers@fsw.eur.nl>, Departement of Sociology Erasmus University Rotterdam & Cécile Vermot <cecilevermot@gmail.com>, Université Paris 5-Descartes

  Generations of scholars of theology and religious studies have viewed affects, emotions, and religion as closely related issues. What can be said about the certain shapes, characteristics and forms of this relationship in present times? How far is the research on emotions especially crucial for the understanding of religious life in Europe and for the coexistence, or even living together, of different confessions? What role do “emotional regimes” (Riis/Woodhead) or “feeling rules” (Hochschild) play with regard to the formation of emotional cultures both in religious groups and communities and with regard to the quest for salvation or spirituality of individual persons?

• 17_11JS20JS28 – Emotions, Objectification and Reflexivity in Qualitative Body and Sport Research (1)

  Joint session with RN20 – Qualitative Methods and RN28 – Society and Sports

  Chair: Monica Aceti <monica.aceti@unifr.ch>, University of Strasbourg Katarina Jacobsson <Katarina.Jacobsson@soch.lu.se>, Lund University Haifa Tlili <tlilihaifa1@gmail.com>, Paris Descartes University

  We invite researchers working on subjects that engage the body in situations of various interactions (physical, sports, arts, in professional or leisure situation) to question their practices and their emotional commitment in their field. Three perspectives will be favoured. •Discuss the opportunities, limitations and bias of different versions of participant observation. One of the main issues is to question the researcher’s choice when faced with the challenging dialectic of subjective and emotional connection to the field and the aim of “axiological neutrality” required by the scientific posture. An object held at a distance or “blindness” in the field? Therefore, we will question the different types and occurrences of ethnocentrism, androcentrism an hegemonic Doxa which very often remain invisible. •Take the measurement, in the objectification work, on the importance of autobiographical determinations, in order to clarify the researcher’s situated point of view (age, sexuality, social class, sex, race, etc.). We will examine in particular the heuristic advantages, which this involvement can contribute to the construction of a scientific object or on the contrary, it may misrepresent the content. •The emotions of the researcher in the field have a crucial impact on the way he or she perceives reality which has been widely neglected by methodological debates. We encourage contributions that reflect on the researcher’s affectivity and its impact on the collection and interpretation of data.

  Ultimately, we invite the presenters to make a reflexive return on their research subject by shifting the focus on the social, cultural, spatiotemporal or even, in connection with biographical transformations (accidents, maternity, mourning, etc.) or structural events (institutional changes, crisis, disaster, etc.).

• 18_11JS20JS28 – Emotions, Objectification and Reflexivity in Qualitative Body and Sport Research (2)

  Joint session with RN20 – Qualitative Methods and RN28 – Society and Sports

  Chair: Haifa Tlili <tlilihaifa1@gmail.com>, Paris Descartes University Katarina Jacobsson <Katarina.Jacobsson@soch.lu.se>, Lund University Monica Aceti <monica.aceti@unifr.ch>, University of Strasbourg

  We invite researchers working on subjects that engage the body in situations of various interactions (physical, sports, arts, in professional or leisure situation) to question their practices and their emotional commitment in their field. Three perspectives will be favoured. •Discuss the opportunities, limitations and bias of different versions of participant observation. One of the main issues is to question the researcher’s choice when faced with the challenging dialectic of subjective and emotional connection to the field and the aim of “axiological neutrality” required by the scientific posture. An object held at a distance or “blindness” in the field? Therefore, we will question the different types and occurrences of ethnocentrism, androcentrism an hegemonic Doxa which very often remain invisible. •Take the measurement, in the objectification work, on the importance of autobiographical determinations, in order to clarify the researcher’s situated point of view (age, sexuality, social class, sex, race, etc.). We will examine in particular the heuristic advantages, which this involvement can contribute to the construction of a scientific object or on the contrary, it may misrepresent the content. •The emotions of the researcher in the field have a crucial impact on the way he or she perceives reality which has been widely neglected by methodological debates. We encourage contributions that reflect on the researcher’s affectivity and its impact on the collection and interpretation of data.

  Ultimately, we invite the presenters to make a reflexive return on their research subject by shifting the focus on the social, cultural, spatiotemporal or even, in connection with biographical transformations (accidents, maternity, mourning, etc.) or structural events (institutional changes, crisis, disaster, etc.).

• 99_b11JS20JS28 – Emotions, Objectification and Reflexivity in Qualitative Body and Sport Research – II

  Joint session with RN20 – Qualitative Methods and RN28 – Society and Sports

  Monica Aceti <monica.aceti@unifr.ch>, University of Strasbourg Haifa Tlili <tlilihaifa1@gmail.com>, Paris Descartes University Sven Ismer <Sven.Ismer@fu-berlin.de>, Free University Berlin Katarina Jacobsson <Katarina.Jacobsson@soch.lu.se>, Lund University

  We invite researchers working on subjects that engage the body in situations of various interactions (physical, sports, arts, in professional or leisure situation) to question their practices and their emotional commitment in their field. Three perspectives will be favoured. •Discuss the opportunities, limitations and bias of different versions of participant observation. One of the main issues is to question the researcher’s choice when faced with the challenging dialectic of subjective and emotional connection to the field and the aim of “axiological neutrality” required by the scientific posture. An object held at a distance or “blindness” in the field? Therefore, we will question the different types and occurrences of ethnocentrism, androcentrism an hegemonic Doxa which very often remain invisible. •Take the measurement, in the objectification work, on the importance of autobiographical determinations, in order to clarify the researcher’s situated point of view (age, sexuality, social class, sex, race, etc.). We will examine in particular the heuristic advantages, which this involvement can contribute to the construction of a scientific object or on the contrary, it may misrepresent the content. •The emotions of the researcher in the field have a crucial impact on the way he or she perceives reality which has been widely neglected by methodological debates. We encourage contributions that reflect on the researcher’s affectivity and its impact on the collection and interpretation of data.

  Ultimately, we invite the presenters to make a reflexive return on their research subject by shifting the focus on the social, cultural, spatiotemporal or even, in connection with biographical transformations (accidents, maternity, mourning, etc.) or structural events (institutional changes, crisis, disaster, etc.).

• 99ex11JS28 – Sport and Emotions

  Joint session with RN28 – Society and Sports

  Chairs: Christopher R. Matthews; Lone Friis Thing & Sven Ismer Sven

  Researchers who explore sport and emotions have often highlighted the place sports, physical cultures, and accompanying emotions occupy within our lives. This joint session proposes to draw together colleagues who, although sharing many conceptual and theoretical linkages, may not have previously made explicit links to each other’s substantive areas. We anticipate papers, which draw on sociological theories of emotions to make sense of physical activity, health, fitness, sport, risk and physical cultures. We also welcome papers, which explore emotions and sport more broadly in theoretical, conceptual and empirical sense. The aim is to enable researchers from different substantive areas to bring their various experiences and knowledge together in order contribute to the advancement of both sub-disciplines.