Speaker: Lisa Hiselius (University of Gothenburg)
In person at Niagara C0826 and on Zoom (link).
Abstract: Emotions are not only a personal affair, but social in nature. They are not only produced by social relationships but are involved in producing social relationships as well. While highly relevant on a micro-level, they go beyond the interactional level, impacting larger scale social structures and movements. They are a fundamental part of human behavior, often conducive to action. This is contingent on the conceptualization of emotions not just being so-called foreground emotions and visible “affects”, but also coloring almost every facet of human behavior, through emotions such as pride, confidence, and interest/curiosity. As a fundamental component of human behavior, studying emotions can help us understand human behavior not just as goal-oriented rational actions, but as always informed by emotions and emotional rules (in varyingly visible ways).
Theories aiming to understand emotions in social contexts can be divided into two levels of analysis: micro- and macro-perspectives. Put simply, macro-perspectives aim to explain emotions on a larger scale, which relates to issues such as, but not limited to, social and political movements. Micro-perspectives on the other hand aim to explain how emotions in smaller scale interactions, such as in, but not limited to, organizations. I will present a few theories, and examples of applications. On the macro-level, there are theories of collective emotions and action, how power and status generate emotions, and more. On the micro-level, theories mainly deal with so-called micro-politics, interaction rituals, emotion work, and more. There are also theories surpassing this divide of micro-macro levels, such as feeling rules.
In conclusion, emotions appear in every situation where human behavior is involved. There is significant potential in the study of emotions in social contexts. A few examples of circumstances where emotions are involved in one way or another are organizations and work-culture, social and political movements, collective actions, norms and conformity, choices in everyday life, inequality and injustice, and much, much more. In this presentation, I hope to sow a seed of interest in how emotions can be used in social scientific research and show how studying emotions have wide applicability and relevance.
About the speaker:
My name is Lisa Hiselius. After getting my bachelor’s degree in sociology from Lund University, I am now attending a master’s programme in sociology at Gothenburg University. Currently, I am doing a research internship at Malmö University, working with Christina Lindkvist and Ella Klausen. My main interest, naturally, is sociology, but as sociology is the study of the social human, there are barely any limits to my interests.
This seminar is part of the IUR Brown Bag Seminar Series. Bring your lunch! If you have any questions, please contact Defne Kadioglu and Julie Goodrich.