Abstract
This piece reviews theory in research in the sociological social psychology of emotions. We discuss the definition of emotions, how emotions are typologized, research methods used in the study of emotions, and the association between biology, culture, and emotional experience. We then review several theoretical perspectives on emotions, including (1) classical sociological theory, (2) social structural theory, (3) emotion management and labor, (4) identity theory, (5) interaction theories, (6) phenomenological theory, (7) social exchange theory, and (8) evolutionary social psychological theory. We conclude with a discussion of recent trends in the study of emotions, including the association between emotional experiences and place, and emotions as performative.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
There is much overlap between the sociological social psychology of emotions and the sociology of emotions. However, the sociology of emotions also includes theory and research regarding how macrosociological phenomena and processes influence and are influenced by emotional experiences. Readers interested in more macrosociologial approaches to emotions should consult Turner and Stets (2005).
- 2.
According to Kemper (2007, p. 101), an other having excessive status is a somewhat “null category” since status is freely given.
- 3.
Hochschild’s (1983) concept of feeling rules has a family resemblance to Ekman’s (2003) concept of display rules (see section “Typologizing Emotions” above). While both are concerned with the normative aspects of emotional displays, the concept of feeling rules highlights the norms that influence the emotions people actually experience.
- 4.
Although Hochschild’s (1983, p. 147) concept of emotional labor refers to labor done by employees to create particular emotional states in other persons, we use the term more broadly here to refer to any emotion management performed at the workplace.
References
Arluke, A. (1994). Managing emotions in an animal shelter. In A. Manning & J. Serpell (Eds.), Animals and human society: Changing perspectives (pp. 145–165). New York: Routledge.
Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31–35.
Bahner, A. D., & Berkel, L. A. (2007). Exploring burnout in batterer intervention programs. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22, 994–1008.
Bailey, F. G. (1983). The tactical uses of passion: An essay on power, reason, and reality. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Baumgartner, M. P. (1988). The moral order of the suburb. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bell, M. M. (1997). The ghost of place. Theory and Society, 26, 813–836.
Bianchi, A. J. (2005). Rejecting others’ influence: Negative sentiment and status in task groups. Sociological Perspectives, 47, 339–355.
Bianchi, A. J., & Lancianese, D. A. (2007). Accentuate the positive: Positive sentiments and status in task groups. Social Psychology Quarterly, 70, 7–26.
Borer, M. I. (2006). Important places and their public faces: Understanding Fenway Park as a public symbol. The Journal of Popular Culture, 39, 205–224.
Briggs, J. L. (1970). Never in anger: Portrait of an Eskimo family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brown, C., & O’Brien, K. M. (1998). Understanding stress and burnout in shelter workers. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 29, 383–385.
Burke, P. (1991). Identity processes and social stress. American Sociological Review, 56, 836–849.
Burke, P. (1996). Social identities and psychosocial distress. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.), Psychosocial stress: Perspective on structure, theory, life course, and methods (pp. 141–174). Orlando, FL: Academic.
Cahill, S. E. (1999). Emotional capital and professional socialization: The case of mortuary students (and me). Social Psychology Quarterly, 62, 101–116.
Cahill, S. E., & Eggleston, R. (1994). Managing emotions in public: The case of wheelchair users. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 300–312.
Collins, R. (2004). Interactional ritual chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human nature and the social order. New York: Scribner.
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New York: Putnam.
Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of emotions in animals and man. London: Oxford University Press.
Denzin, N. K. (1984). On understanding emotion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Driskell, J. E., Jr., & Webster, M., Jr. (1997). Status and sentiment in task groups. In J. Szmatka, J. Skovertz, & J. Berger (Eds.), Status, network and structure: Theory construction and theory development (pp. 179–200). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Durkheim, E. (1984). Division of labor in society (W. D. Hall, Trans.). New York: Free Press. (Original work published 1893)
Durkheim, E. (1995). The elementary forms of religious life (K. Fields, Trans.). New York: Free Press. (Original work published 1912)
Egan, R. D. (2005). Emotional consumption: Mapping love and masochism in an exotic dance club. Body and Society, 11, 87–108.
Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions revealed: Recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life. New York: Holt.
Erikson, R. J., & Ritter, C. (2001). Emotional labor, burnout, and inauthenticity: Does gender matter? Social Psychology Quarterly, 64, 146–163.
Fişek, M. H., & Berger, J. (1998). Sentiment and task performance expectations. Advances in Group Processes, 14, 23–41.
Francis, L. E. (2007). Emotions and health. In J. E. Stets & J. H. Turner (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of emotions (pp. 591–610). New York: Springer.
Frank, K. (2003). “Just trying to relax”: Masculinity, masculinizing practices, and strip club regulars. Journal of Sex Research, 40, 61–75.
Gardner, C. B. (1999). Passing by: Gender and public harassment. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. New York: Polity.
Goffman, E. (1956a). Embarrassment and social organization. American Journal of Sociology, 62, 264–271.
Goffman, E. (1956b). The nature of deference and demeanor. American Anthropologist, 58, 473–502.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.
Goodwin, J., Jasper, J. M., & Polletta, F. (Eds.). (2001). Passionate politics: Emotions and social movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gordon, S. L. (1981). The sociology of sentiments and emotion. In M. Rosenberg & R. H. Turner (Eds.), Social psychology: Sociological perspectives (pp. 562–592). New York: Basic Books.
Haakana, M. (2001). Laughter as a patient’s resource: Dealing with delicate aspects of medical interaction. Text, 21, 187–219.
Hariri, A., & Forbes, E. E. (2007). Genetics of emotion regulation. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 110–132). New York: Guilford Press.
Harlow, R. (2003). Race doesn’t matter, but…: The effect of race on professors’ experiences of emotion management in the undergraduate classroom. Social Psychology Quarterly, 66, 348–363.
Hegtvedt, K. (1990). The effects of relationship structure on emotional responses to inequity. Social Psychology Quarterly, 53, 214–228.
Hegtvedt, K., & Killian, C. (1999). Fairness and emotions: Reactions to the process and outcomes of negotiations. Social Forces, 78, 269–303.
Heise, D. R. (1977). Social action as the control of affect. Behavioral Science, 22, 163–177.
Heise, D. R. (1979). Understanding events: Affect and the construction of social action. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hochschild, A. R. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85, 551–575.
Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Holyfield, L. (1999). Manufacturing adventure: The buying and selling of emotions. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 28, 3–32.
Homans, G. C. (1961). Social behavior: Its elementary forms. New York: Harcourt.
House, J. S., Umberson, D., & Landis, K. R. (1988). Structures and processes of social support. Annual Review of Sociology, 14, 293–318.
James, W. (1884). What is an emotion? Mind, 19, 188–205.
Jefferson, G., Sacks, H., & Schegloff, E. A. (1987). Notes on laughter in the pursuit of intimacy. In G. Button & J. R. E. Lee (Eds.), Talk and social organization (pp. 152–205). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Kang, M. (2003). The managed hand: The commercialization of bodies and emotions in Korean immigrant-owned nail salons. Gender and Society, 17, 820–839.
Katz, J. (1999). How emotions work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kemper, T. D. (1978). A social interaction theory of emotions. New York: Wiley.
Kemper, T. D. (1987). How many emotions are there? Wedding the social and the autonomic components. American Journal of Sociology, 93, 263–289.
Kemper, T. D. (2007). Power and status and the power-status theory of emotions. In J. E. Stets & J. H. Turner (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of emotions (pp. 87–113). New York: Springer.
Kidder, J. L. (2011). Urban flow: Bike messengers and the city. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Lawler, E. J. (2001). An affect theory of social exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 107, 321–352.
Lawler, E. J., Thye, S. R., & Yoon, J. (2000). Emotion and group cohesion in social exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 106, 616–657.
Lawler, E. J., & Yoon, J. (1996). Commitment in exchange relations: A test of a theory of relational cohesion. American Sociological Review, 61, 89–108.
Lawler, E. J., & Yoon, J. (1998). Network structure and emotion in exchange relations. American Sociological Review, 63, 871–894.
Leidner, R. (1993). Fast food, fast talk: Service work and the routinization of everyday life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Levy, R. I. (1973). Tahitians: Mind and experience in the Society Islands. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lively, K. J. (2000). Reciprocal emotion management: Working together to maintain stratification in private law firms. Work and Occupations, 27, 32–63.
Lively, K. J. (2007). Emotions in the workplace. In J. E. Stets & J. H. Turner (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of emotions (pp. 569–590). New York: Springer.
Lively, K. J., & Powell, B. (2006). Emotional expression at work and at home: Domain, status, or individual characteristics? Social Psychology Quarterly, 69, 17–38.
Lively, K. J., Steelman, L. C., & Powell, B. (2010). Equity, emotion, and household division of labor. Social Psychology Quarterly, 73, 358–379.
Lofland, L. H. (1998). The public realm: Exploring the city’s quintessential social territory. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Lois, J. (2001). Peaks and valleys: The gendered emotional culture of edgework. Gender & Society, 15, 381–406.
Lovaglia, M. J., & Houser, J. A. (1996). Emotional reactions and status in groups. American Sociological Review, 61, 867–883.
Lutz, C. A. (1988). Unnatural emotions: Everyday sentiments on a Micronesian atoll and their challenges to Western theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lyng, S. G. (1990). Edgework: A social psychological analysis of voluntary risk taking. American Journal Sociology, 95, 851–886.
Marx, K. (1978). Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844. In R. C. Tucker (Ed.), The Marx-Engels reader(pp. 66–125). (M. Milligan, Trans.). New York: W.W. Norton. (Original work published 1844)
Massey, D. S. (2007). Categorically unequal: The American stratification system. New York: Russell Sage.
McCall, G. J., & Simmons, J. L. (1978). Identities and interactions. New York: Free Press.
McNaughton, N. (1989). Biology and emotion. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). New York: Humanities Press. (Original work published 1945)
Miller, A. S., & Kanazawa, S. (2007). Why beautiful people have more daughters. New York: Perigee.
Ng, K. H., & Kidder, J. L. (2010). Toward a theory of emotive performance: With lessons from how politicians do anger. Sociological Theory, 28, 193–214.
Ortony, A., & Turner, T. J. (1990). What’s basic about basic emotions? Psychological Review, 97, 315–331.
Orzechowicz, D. (2008). Privileged emotion managers: The case of actors. Social Psychology Quarterly, 71, 143–156.
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Pearlin, L. I. (1989). The sociological study of stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 241–256.
Pearlin, L. I. (1999). The stress process revisited. In C. S. Aneshensel & J. C. Phelan (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of mental health (pp. 395–415). New York: Springer.
Pierce, J. L. (1995). Gender trials: Emotional lives in contemporary law firms. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Plutchik, R. (1980). Emotion: A psychoevolutionary synthesis. New York: Harper and Row.
Plutchik, R. (2002). Emotions and life: Perspectives from psychology, biology, and evolution. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Pollak, L. H., & Thoits, P. A. (1989). Processes in emotional socialization. Social Psychology Quarterly, 52, 22–34.
Powers, J., & Wolkomir, M. (2007). Helping women and protecting the self: The challenge of emotion labor in an abortion clinic. Qualitative Sociology, 30, 153–169.
Ridgeway, C., & Johnson, C. (1990). What is the relationship between socioemotional behavior and status in task groups? American Journal of Sociology, 95, 1189–1212.
Robinson, D. T. (2007). Control theories in sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 33, 157–174.
Robinson, D. T., & Smith-Lovin, L. (2006). Affect control theory. In P. J. Burke (Ed.), Contemporary social psychology theories (pp. 137–164). Stanford, CA: Stanford Social Sciences.
Rosaldo, M. Z. (1984). Toward an anthropology of self and feeling. In R. A. Shweder & R. A. LeVine (Eds.), Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion (pp. 137–157). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Russell, J. A. (1989). Culture, scripts, and children’s understanding of emotions. In C. Saarni & P. L. Harris (Eds.), Children’s understanding of emotions (pp. 293–318). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sanders, T. (2004). Controllable laughter: Managing sex work through humour. Sociology, 38, 273–291.
Sartre, J. P. (1962). Sketch for a theory of the emotions (P. Mairet, Trans.). London: Methuen. (Original work published 1939)
Saville, S. J. (2008). Playing with fear: Parkour and the mobility of emotion. Social & Cultural Geography, 9, 891–914.
Schachter, S., & Singer, J. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69, 379–399.
Scheff, T. J. (1994). Bloody revenge: Emotions, nationalism, and war. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Schrock, D. P., Boyd, E. M., & Leaf, M. (2009). Emotion work in the public performances of male-to-female transexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 702–712.
Schuman, H. (1995). Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. In K. Cook, G. A. Fine, & J. S. House (Eds.), Sociological perspectives on social psychology (pp. 68–89). New York: Allyn and Bacon.
Schweingruber, D., & Berns, N. (2005). Shaping the selves of young salespeople through emotion management. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 34, 679–706.
Sharp, S. (2010). How does prayer help manage emotions? Social Psychology Quarterly, 73, 417–437.
Shelly, R. K. (2001). How performance expectations arise from sentiments. Social Psychology Quarterly, 64, 72–87.
Shott, S. (1979). Emotion in social life: A symbolic interactionist perspective. American Journal of Sociology, 84, 1317–1334.
Simmel, G. (1971). The stranger. In D. N. Levine (Ed. & Trans.), On individuality and social forms (pp. 143–149). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1908)
Simon, R. W., & Nath, L. E. (2004). Gender and emotion in the United States: Do men and women differ in self-reports of feelings and expressive behavior. American Journal of Sociology, 109, 1137–1176.
Smith, R. T. (2008). Passion work: The joint production of emotional labor in professional wrestling. Social Psychology Quarterly, 71, 157–176.
Smith, A. C., III, & Kleinman, S. (1989). Managing emotions in medical school: Students’ contacts with the living and the dead. Social Psychology Quarterly, 52, 56–69.
Smith-Lovin, L. (1995). The sociology of affect and emotions. In K. S. Cook, G. A. Fine, & J. S. House (Eds.), Sociological perspectives on social psychology (pp. 118–148). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Solomon, R. C. (1976). The passions. Garden City, NY: Anchor.
Stets, J. E. (2004). Emotions in identity theory: The effect of status. Advances in Group Processes, 21, 51–76.
Stets, J. E. (2005). Examining emotions in identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 68, 39–74.
Stets, J. E., & Asencio, E. K. (2008). Consistency and enhancement processes in understanding emotions. Social Forces, 86, 1055–1078.
Stets, J. E., & Burke, P. (2005). New directions in identity control theory. Advances in Group Processes, 22, 43–64.
Stets, J. E., & Tsushima, T. (2001). Negative emotion and coping responses within identity control theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 64, 283–295.
Stryker, S. (2004). Integrating emotions into identity theory. Advances in Group Processes, 21, 1–23.
Sutton, R. (1991). Maintaining norms about expressed emotion: The case of bill collectors. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 245–268.
Thoits, P. A. (1984). Coping, social support, and psychological outcomes. In P. Shaver (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 219–238). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Thoits, P. A. (1985). Self-labeling processes in mental illness: The role of emotional deviance. American Journal of Sociology, 91, 221–249.
Thoits, P. A. (1989). The sociology of emotions. Annual Review of Sociology, 15, 317–342.
Thoits, P. A. (1990). Emotional deviance: Research agendas. In T. D. Kemper (Ed.), Research agendas in the sociology of emotions (pp. 180–203). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Thoits, P. A. (1995). Stress, coping, and social support processes: Where are we? What next? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35(Extra Issue), 53–79.
Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1992). The psychological foundations of culture. In J. H. Barkow, L. Cosmides, & J. Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture (pp. 19–36). New York: Oxford University Press.
Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2008). The evolutionary psychology of the emotions and their relationship to internal regulatory variables. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 114–137). New York: The Guilford Press.
Turner, J. H. (2000). On the origins of human emotions: A sociological inquiry into the evolution of human affect. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Turner, J. H., & Stets, J. E. (2005). The sociology of emotions. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Vaccaro, C. A., Schrock, D. P., & McCabe, J. M. (2011). Managing emotional manhood: Fighting and fostering fear in mixed martial arts. Social Psychology Quarterly, 74, 414–437.
Weber, M. (1978). Economy and society: An outline of interpretive sociology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (Original work published 1925)
Wentworth, W. M., & Ryan, J. (1992). Balancing body, mind, and culture: The place of emotion in social life. In D. D. Franks, W. M. Wentworth, & J. Ryan (Eds.), Social perspectives on emotion (pp. 21–55). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Wentworth, W. M., & Yardly, D. (1994). Deep sociality: A bioevolutionary perspective on the sociology of human emotions. In D. D. Franks & V. Gecas (Eds.), Social perspectives on emotion (pp. 25–46). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Whalen, J., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1998). Observations on the display and management of emotion in naturally occurring activities: The case of “hysteria” in calls to 9-1-1. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61, 141–159.
Wharton, A. (1993). The affective consequences of service work. Work and Occupations, 20, 205–232.
Wharton, A., & Erikson, R. J. (1995). Consequences of caring: Exploring the links between women’s job and family emotion work. Sociological Quarterly, 36, 301–324.
Wilkins, A. C. (2008). Happier than non-Christians: Collective emotions and symbolic boundaries among evangelical Christians. Social Psychology Quarterly, 71, 281–301.
Wilkinson, S., & Kitzinger, C. (2006). Surprise as an interactional accomplishment: Reaction tokens in conversation. Social Psychology Quarterly, 69, 150–182.
Wingfield, A. H. (2010). Are some emotions marked “whites only”? Racialized feeling rules in professional workplaces. Social Problems, 57, 251–268.
Zaloom, C. (2006). Out of the pits: Traders and technology from Chicago to London. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank John DeLamater and Amanda Ward for their helpful comments and suggestions on a previous version of the manuscript. We would also like to thank Elizabeth Schewe for proofreading assistance and Nick Sienza for reference assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sharp, S., Kidder, J.L. (2013). Emotions. In: DeLamater, J., Ward, A. (eds) Handbook of Social Psychology. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6772-0_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6772-0_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6771-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6772-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)