RN11 - Sociology of Emotions

Deadline: 1 March 2021.

RN11 - Sociology of Emotions

Coordinators:

• Yvonne Albrecht, Humboldt-University of Berlin,Germany, y.albrecht[at]hu-berlin.de
• Alberto Martin Perez, University of Barcelona, Spain, amartinperez[at]ub.edu
• Natàlia Cantó-Milà, University Oberta de Catalunya, Spain, ncantom[at]uoc.edu
• Nina Margies, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany, margiesn[at]hu-berlin.de

Call for papers

The current challenges for societies are manifold: a worldwide pandemic, climate change, forced migration and social inequalities. New solutions and innovative thinking about alternative futures are immediately necessary and sociology should contribute to it. The focus on emotions is crucial here: On the one hand, these developments cause fear which individuals and groups have to deal with; populist and right-wing-movements may instrumentalize affects for their purposes. On the other hand, new emotional alliances and forms of transnational solidarity are built for example between social movements like Black Lives Matter and Fridays-for-Future. Therefore, necessary analytical questions are: How are emotions, affects and feelings instrumentalised for political reasons? What recipes can a sociology of emotions deliver for alternative futures? What is necessary for creating (transnational) solidarities, communality, and cohesion? How can sociology include emotions, feelings and affects more adequately in their research designs? What theoretical and methodological approaches can be used? In our sessions, we welcome papers that investigate the role of emotionality in all aspects of society and social life – from intimate and family relations to global politics, and all points in between. All high-quality papers with a central sociological focus on emotions, feelings, affects and moods will be considered. As such, we welcome contributions that speak to alternative scenarios for the future directly, but also as they are reflected in our sessions on emotions and identity; emotions, family and intimate lives; emotions and social movements; emotions in organisations; emotions and politics; emotions and populism; collective emotions; as well as emotions, capitalism, and inequalities.

Joint sessions

JS_RN11_RN13: Feeling ‘the Global’ Through Families and Personal Relationships

(Joint session with RN11 Sociology of Emotions and RN13 Sociology of Families and Intimate Lives)

Coordinators:

• Lisa Howard, University of Edinburgh, UK, Lisa.Howard[at]ed.ac.uk
• Lynn Jamieson, University of Edinburgh, UK, L.Jamieson[at]ed.ac.uk

We call for papers that advance theoretical understanding of the lived experience of the intersections of emotional life of families and personal relationships with global issues. These include the Covid-19 pandemic, economic globalisation, disruption of political structures, wars, refugees, terrorism, environmental problems and political responses to climate change. How are emotionally infused interpersonal relationships implicated in political movements, in empathy with or antipathy toward strangers and neighbours, cosmopolitanism, racism, humanitarian values, sympathy for non-human animals and activism on behalf of the environment or other causes?

JS_RN11_RN13_RN33: New Disavowals? The Politics of Emotions and their Separating and Connecting Effects

(Joint session with RN11 Sociology of Emotions and RN13 Sociology of Families and Intimate Lives and RN33 Women’s and Gender Studies)

Coordinators:

• Lise Widding Isaksen, University of Bergen, Norway, lise.isaksen[at]uib.no
• Elisabetta Ruspini, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, Elisabetta.ruspini[at]unimib.it
• Yvonne Albrecht, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany, y.albrecht[at]hu-berlin.de
• Vida Česnuitytė, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania, v.cesnuityte[at]mruni.eu

The capitalistic dynamics embedded into people’s family, work and emotional life appear as new intersectional tensions and divisions. In societies which are partially dominated by populistic or right-wing extremist leaders, fears of people and their families are instrumentalized, and anti-feminist tendencies come up into force. For preventing sociology from the danger of producing knowledge in hegemonic ways, the aim of the session is to discuss possible recipes for alternative futures that incorporate emotionality, affects, and feminist perspectives, and to search for relevant analytical tools providing knowledge on the role of emotions in nowadays social world.

JS_RN11_RN32: Emotional political narratives and engagement in contentious politics

(Joint session with RN11 Sociology of Emotions and RN32 Political Sociology)

Coordinators:

• Monika Verbalyte, Freie Universität Berlin/ Europe-University Flensburg, Germany, monika.verbalyte[at]fu-berlin.de
• Gabriella Szabo, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Szabo.gabriella[at]tk.mta.hu

The goal of this panel is to shed light on the latest trends in emotional political narratives and engagement. In times of multiple crises in Europe (austerity measures, cultural and value conflicts, migration, Covid pandemics) expression of outrage seems to become a normal practice if not a new display rule. This moral anger against those who allegedly or actually inflicted damage on someone we care about has been amplified thanks to social networking sites and ranting media that provide platforms for limitless emotional ventilation. Communicating frustration, however, not necessarily motivates collective action for social or political changes. Political engagement and mobilization need narratives of hope, empathy, pride, and feeling of being part of a group as well. Therefore, we invite contributions to map the complexity of affections in politics that includes the simultaneous expression of mixed emotions as well as dynamics of emotion transformation in time. We are open for submissions of empirical research and theoretical contributions aiming to understand emotional political narratives and engagement. We especially welcome methodologically innovative papers expanding our knowledge on the interplay between the cultivation of outrage and positive emotions in the context of contemporary contentious politics.

Full Call for Papers