SECURING OUR SANITY

Abstract

Just as emotions allow us to create and reinforce our sense of self, so too does emotional deviance challenge this sense. Anger, an emotion reflecting a feeling of injustice, is usually governed by an emotional culture that increasingly regards its expression as inappropriate. Anger is therefore experienced with a high level of anxiety. This article attempts to focus attention on how these experiences of emotional deviance are managed in situations where there is not only a lack of consensus but where anger management can be crucial to the creation and management of social conflicts. Over a 13-month period the researchers became immersed in such a setting through their activities as escorts at an abortion clinic where social conflicts between antiabortionists and police occurred on almost a weekly basis. Through their experiences and observations, the researchers show how, in certain contexts, anger management can become a basis for developing alternative interpretations, validating emotional selves, and creating group solidarity.