4.4 Sociology of Emotions
What exactly are emotions, and how can we understand them sociologically? Sociologist Peggy Thoits (1989) provides one definition; she argues that emotions have four components (figure 4.9). First, there has to be some kind of situational stimulus. For example, someone could express something you dislike or discriminate against you based on one of your identities. Second, there is some physiological change or bodily sensation. Your breathing could change, or your heart rate might increase. Third, there is an expressive gesture. You might smile, frown, or move your body in a particular way. Finally, there is a label applied to at least one of the first three components. These labels can vary from society to society and group to group.
While sociologists tend to argue that emotions are socially constructed, some social scientists argue that every society has the same set of basic emotions. Specifically, positivists argue that people can universally identify fear, surprise, anger, disgust, sadness, and happiness. From this perspective, all other emotions are some combination of these basic emotions. Using pictures of people’s facial expressions, there is perhaps some evidence for this. Yet this narrow focus on facial expressions misses many nuances and cross-cultural differences in understanding and expressing emotions. Furthermore, it ignores how emotions can be connected to inequalities.
Emotion Work
Within social psychology, one influential concept in understanding emotion is emotion work, which entails either suppressing or evoking a particular emotion (Hochschild 1979). How often have you been in a situation where you felt something but were not allowed to express it? If you have worked a job that involved regular interaction with customers, you may have wanted to say or express something but couldn’t because of the informal or formal rules that were in place. In this instance, you may have been suppressing your emotions.
Alternatively, you may have found yourself in a situation where most people were expressing a particular emotion, but you were not. This may have led you to evoke the same emotion. For example, maybe you attended a wedding and felt ambivalence toward the couple or had other things going on in your life. But once you were at the celebration where everyone else was seemingly happy, you began to evoke the same emotion (figure 4.10).
There are a variety of ways to evoke or suppress an emotion. First, you can change what you are thinking. For instance, you could think happy thoughts or think sad thoughts. You can invoke an image that you relate to a particular emotion. Second, you can attempt to change bodily sensations. For example, you could alter your breathing. Third, you can change your expressive gestures. For instance, you could put on a smile or frown.
One part of managing emotions is regulating the language that we use (Schwalbe et al. 2000). Sometimes language can be used to gloss over decisions