You are here

Affect and Emotion
Share

Affect and Emotion
A New Social Science Understanding



February 2012 | 192 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
In recent years there has been a surge of interest in affect and emotion. Scholars want to discover how people are moved, and understand embodied social action, feelings and passions. How do social formations 'grab' people? How do roller coasters of contempt, patriotism, hate and euphoria power public life? This book systematically reviews research on affect and emotion in neuroscience, social psychology, sociology, and political science. It develops a critique of the 'turn to affect' and argues for an approach based on affective practice. It provides new analyses to explain how affect travels, settles, circulates and coalesces.
 
Chapter 1: Introducing Affect: Lines of Argument
 
Chapter 2: Bodying Affect: Affective Flows and Their Psychobiological Figuring
 
Chapter 3: Negotiating Affect: Discourse, Representation and Affective Meaning-Making
 
Chapter 4: Situating Affect: Interaction, Accountability and the Present Moment
 
Chapter 5: Solidifying Affect: Structures of Feeling, Habitus and Emotional Capital
 
Chapter 6: Personalising Affect: Relational Histories, Subjectivities and the Psychosocial
 
Chapter 7: Circulating Affect: Waves of Feeling, Contagion and Affective Transmission

Absolutely essential reading for those wanting to understand the recent 'turn' to affect. Offering an extensive analysis of all the perspectives available, including the psycho, neuro, bio and social, Margie Wetherell treads a magisterial path through the radically different offerings, one that illuminates key ideas and will save the uninitiated wandering down many pointless avenues. A path-setting book.

Professor Beverley Skeggs
Goldsmiths

Engagingly well written and using up-to-the-minute research, this book will be indispensible for those who want a comprehensive overview of 'where we are now' in research on emotions. But more than this, by developing an original model of 'affective practices', which focuses on the affective assemblages operating in concrete situations, it suggests a way forward that will prove inspirational for new research in this field. 

Ian Burkitt
Centre for Applied Social Research, University of Bradford

The book is a valuable addition not only to the study of affect and emotion, but also to the rest of social science research. Emphasizing the importance of social interaction, it embarks on an ambitious debate on the subject. Readers already familiar with the field will get the most out of this title.

Marjo Kolehmainen
SOSIOLOGIA

This important book is a brilliant corrective to some of the careless, poorly psychologically informed work on affect. It is essential reading for all those seriously interested in the topic.


Valerie Walkerdine
Distinguished Research Professor, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

This book provides an excellent introduction to the world of emotion and feeling. It is extremely handy for therapists and will open up new areas of enquiry

Dr Lyndsey Moon
Department of Psychology, Roehampton University
June 19, 2012

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter One


Margaret Wetherell

Margaret Wetherell is Professor of Social Psychology at the Open University, UK and Director of the Economic and Social Research Council Programme on Identities and Social Action. More About Author

Purchasing options

Please select a format:

ISBN: 9780857028570
£41.99
ISBN: 9780857028563
£134.00

SAGE Knowledge is the ultimate social sciences digital library for students, researchers, and faculty. Hosting more than 4,400 titles, it includes an expansive range of SAGE eBook and eReference content, including scholarly monographs, reference works, handbooks, series, professional development titles, and more.

The platform allows researchers to cross-search and seamlessly access a wide breadth of must-have SAGE book and reference content from one source.