02 The Politics of Emotions: Diagnosis and Historical Transformations

The social sciences and the humanities have witnessed an emotional transformation since the 1990s. Emotions are conceptualised as social constructions, as bodily practices institutionalised in specific emotional arrangements and regimes. In the transformation of modern societies we encounter shifts of such emotional regimes in both the private and the public sphere. Our perspective aims to understand social, economic and political relations and institutions by integrating emotions, affects and bodily dimensions in the analysis. The seminar will investigate the role of emotions in different domains, such as labour relations, political discourse, mobilisation and organisations, gender relations. Our aim will be to answer the question why emotions are of importance in contemporary western societies.