Emotions, Sociology of

Abstract

Abstract The prominent theoretically driven research traditions in the sociology of emotions are reviewed, and statements are made on some of the enduring conceptual issues in the field of inquiry. The study of emotions emerged rather late in sociology during the 1970s: this late arrival was the result of a relative lack of attention to conceptualizing emotions during sociology's first 110 years. However, once the sociology of emotions was recognized, work in this area continued to accelerate; and today, the study of emotions is leading edge in many fields of sociological inquiry. More specifically, symbolic interactionist, dramaturgical, interaction ritual, power and status, macrolevel stratification, exchange, and evolutionary approaches to conceptualizing emotional dynamics are reviewed. Among the enduring issues briefly explored are the problems in defining emotions, the debate over a social constructionist versus a biological basis of emotions, the debate over the place of cognitions in emotional arousal, the conceptualization variants and varieties of emotional states, and emotions versus rationality.