SC559-7-AU-CO:
Emotions and Society
2024/25
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
20
06 February 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
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Emotions – a topic once pursued by relatively few psychologists and natural scientists – is now one of the most researched fields across disciplines. Emotion studies in the social sciences can be traced back to Max Weber and Norbert Elias, but the field has grown rapidly in the last three decades. This module aims to introduce the field of emotion studies in the social sciences, and to offer graduates conceptual and methodological tool kits for investigating emotions in their own research.
This module presents some of the major sub-disciplines, namely social constructionism, psycho-social approach, affect theory, and neuro-sociology. First, we will present the difficulties in defining the subject, i.e., the main debates over what emotions are and how to define them. We will then focus on psycho-social approaches to emotions, while the last five sessions will be devoted to sociological, anthropological and historical studies in specific emotions, including love and loss, fear and trauma.
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to the sub-discipline of emotion studies.
- To present the main approaches and debates in the field and their relation to cognate disciplines of sociology, history, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies.
- To develop a critical understanding of different disciplinary, conceptual and methodological approaches.
- To provide students with methodological tools to do their own research on emotions.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Have an understanding of the different ways in which emotions have been conceived across disciplines, including sociology, history, psychoanalysis and cultural studies.
- Have knowledge and a critical understanding of key studies in the field.
- Have the ability to critically examine concepts of emotion and their relation to cognate disciplines.
- Have the capacity to apply conceptual approaches to the empirical study of emotions past and present.
Syllabus
- Emotions: definitions and debates.
- The study of 'subjectivity': psycho-social approaches to emotion.
- Emotions in History: From the ‘Civilizing Process’ to ‘Archives of Feeling’.
- Emotions in the life sciences.
- Emotions and politics: The case of happiness.
- Global emotions – is there such a thing?
- On Ugly Feelings: The Case of Envy.
- Loneliness and Solitude.
- Grief.
- Shame and Body: The case of body-hair.
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour seminar each week.
Attendance in person is expected.
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Prinz, Jesse (2005) ‘Are Emotions Feelings?’, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12(8*), pp. 9–25.
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James, W. (no date) ‘What is an Emotion?’,
Mind, IX(34), pp. 188–205. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/os-IX.34.188.
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Arlie Russell Hochschild (1998b) ‘The sociology of emotion as a way of seeing’, in Gillian Bendelow and Simon J Williams (eds)
Emotions in Social Life Critical Themes and Contemporary Issues. London: Routledge. Available at:
https://www-taylorfrancis-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203437452-10/sociology-emotion-way-seeing-arlie-russell-hochschild?context=ubx&refId=0a3f7a86-59ef-451a-ab1f-dde3162da09c.
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Berezin, M. (2002) ‘Secure States: Towards a Political Sociology of Emotion’,
The Sociological Review, 50(2_suppl), pp. 33–52. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2002.tb03590.x.
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‘Emotionology: Clarifying the History of Emotions and Emotional Standards’ (1985)
The American Historical Review [Preprint]. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1858841.
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Eva Illouz, Daniel Gilon, and Mattan Shachak (2014) ‘Emotions and Cultural Theory’, in J.E. Stets and J.H. Turner (eds)
Handbook of the sociology of emotions: Volume II. Dordrecht: Springer. Available at:
https://search-ebscohost-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=831675&site=ehost-live&authtype=sso&custid=s9814295&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_221.
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Lutz, C. (1986) ‘Emotion, Thought, and Estrangement: Emotion as a Cultural Category’,
Cultural Anthropology, 1(3), pp. 287–309. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/656193.
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Bourke, J. (2003) ‘Fear and Anxiety: Writing about Emotion in Modern History’,
History Workshop Journal, 55(1), pp. 111–133. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/55.1.111.
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Rosenwein, B.H. (no date) ‘Worrying about Emotions in History’,
The American Historical Review, 107(3), pp. 821–845. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/107.3.821.
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Crivelli, C. and Fridlund, A.J. (2019) ‘Inside-Out: From Basic Emotions Theory to the Behavioral Ecology View’,
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 43(2), pp. 161–194. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-019-00294-2.
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Kate Crawford (2021) ‘Chapter 5: Affect’, in
The Atlas of AI?: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/reader.action?docID=6478659&ppg=160.
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Darwin, C. (2009) ‘The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals - INTRODUCTION’, in F. Darwin (ed.)
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (introduction). Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–27. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511694110.002.
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Ekman, P. (1999) ‘Basic Emotions’, in T. Dalgleish and M.J. Power (eds)
Handbook of Cognition and Emotion. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 45–60. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1002/0470013494.ch3.
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Scheff, T.J. (2000) ‘Shame and the Social Bond: A Sociological Theory’,
Sociological Theory, 18(1), pp. 84–99. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00089.
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Sarah E. Fredericks (2021)
Environmental Guilt and Shame (CHAPTER 3). Oxford University Press. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198842699.001.0001.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Book review - 500 words |
|
20% |
| Coursework |
Essay - 2,000 words |
|
80% |
Additional coursework information
Assessment details can be found on Moodle.
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Shaul Bar Haim, email: sbarhaim@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Shaul Bar Haim
socpgtad@essex.ac.uk
Yes
No
Yes
Dr Umut Erel
Open University
Senior Lecturer
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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