The Sociology of Emotions

Although most of us think that feelings are deeply personal and private experiences, this seminar explores the social side of emotion¿including how they are socially learned, shaped, regulated, and distributed in the population as well as the consequences of emotion culture, emotion norms, emotional labor, and emotional deviance for individuals and society. We will consider specific emotions ¿ including jealousy, fear, sympathy, and happiness ¿ as well as more general patterns ¿ including the commercialization of emotion and the role of emotions in politics.