Social theory and emotion: sociological excursions
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
ISSN: 0144-333X
Article publication date: 5 September 2008
Abstract
Purpose
Using the distinction between “private problems” and “public issues” derived from Mill's “sociological imagination”, this paper aims to assess how diverse social theory approaches problematise and define the ways in which social life is shaped and organised with regard to “emotions”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper's approach is theoretical and novel in the interpretation of an under‐development theme in social theory, namely, that of emotion.
Findings
The paper found, on viewing differing sociological approaches, how emotion shifts the focus of our attention away from the idea of individual, private worlds of emotion to the wider context of social relations and the way in which language is used with power to identify subject positions.
Research limitations/implications
This is a general literature.
Originality/value
This is an original paper as it is the first time diverse sociological theories have been pulled together to evince an understanding of what we understand by the concept, experience and symbol of “emotion”.
Keywords
Citation
Powell, J.L. and Gilbert, T. (2008), "Social theory and emotion: sociological excursions", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 28 No. 9/10, pp. 394-407. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443330810900220
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited