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Social theory and emotion: sociological excursions

Jason L. Powell (School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK)
Tony Gilbert (School of PsychoSocial Studies, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK)

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

ISSN: 0144-333X

Article publication date: 5 September 2008

2810

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

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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