What follows is a brief overview of sociological research on emotions and emotional labour, including books, journal articles, research networks and upcoming conferences.
Books
Barbalet, J. (2002), Emotions and sociology, Oxford: Blackwell.
An overview of the sociology of emotions in various sub-fields of sociological research, such as political and economic sociology.
Flam, H. and King, D. (2005), Emotions and Social Movements, London: Routledge.
This book focuses on emotional reactions to state policies, markets and public discourse, at both the macro- and micro-levels.
Garey, A. L., Hansen, K. V. and Ehrenreich, B. (eds.) (2011), At the Heart of Work and Family: Engaging the Ideas of Arlie Hochschild, Chapel Hill: Rutgers University Press.
A fascinating, well-written collection of empirical essays inspired by Arlie Hochschild, addressing topics from (in)security among the very rich and very poor to the emotions of women married to professional athletes.
Hochschild, A. R. (1983), The Managed Heart: The Commercialization of Human Feeling, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
A seminal book on social service work and the need to manage one's emotions, in which Hochschild introduces the concept of ‘emotional labour’.
Hochschild, A. R. (1989), The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home, London: Viking.
An important work showing that emotional labour is not only required in commercial employment, but as a part of everyday life as well as the most intimate of social relationships.
Hochschild, A. R. (2003), The Commercialization of Intimate Life: Notes from Home and Work, Berkeley, CA and London: University of California Press.
An impressive collection of essays providing an overview of Hochschild's work. Key concepts such as ‘feeling rules’, ‘framing rules’, ‘gender code’ and ‘misgivings’ are introduced and developed in this ground-breaking work.
Hochschild, A. R. (2012), The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times, New York: Metropolitan Books.
Written in a humorous, personal and thought-provoking style, Hochschild reflects on the practices of outsourcing personal tasks, ranging from ‘rent a mom’ and internet dating to the planning of wedding parties.
Turner, J. H. and Stets, J. E. (2005), The Sociology of Emotions, New York: Cambridge University Press.
A thorough overview of concepts and theories in the sociology of emotions.
Journal articles
Bjerg, H. and Staunæs, D. (2011), ‘Self-management through shame: uniting governmentality studies and the “affective turn”’, Ephemera, Theory and Politics in Organization, 11, 2, 138–56.
The authors describe an affective economy in which appreciation, interest and shame are produced and exchanged, and consider self-management from the perspective of the ‘affective turn’.
Cahill, S. E. and Eggleston, R. (1994), ‘Managing emotions in public: the case of wheelchair users’, Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 4, 300–12.
This article reveals the complexity of emotional labour for people with visible disabilities, who have to negotiate feeling rules in public while carefully maintaining the desired level of (in)dependence.
James, N. (1992), ‘Care = organisation + physical labour + emotional labour’, Sociology of Health and Illness, 14, 4, 488–505.
The author presents a formula identifying emotional labour as a primary element within care-giving.
Jasper, J. (2011), ‘Emotions and social movements: twenty years of theory and research’, Annual Review of Sociology, 37, 285–303.
This article provides an excellent overview of research on emotions in the field of social movement studies, with implications for students of emotions in other fields and disciplines.
Johnson, C. (2010), ‘The politics of affective citizenship: from Blair to Obama’, Citizenship Studies, 14, 5, 495–509.
This article addresses how intimate emotional relationships between citizens are recognised and endorsed by governments, as well as how citizens are encouraged to feel about themselves and others in broader, more public domains.
Morris, J. A. and Feldman D. C. (1996), ‘The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor’, Academy of Management Review, 21, 4, 986–1010.
The article conceptualises emotional labour along four dimensions: frequency of appropriate emotional display, attentiveness to required display rules, variety of emotions to be displayed and emotional dissonance.
Steinberg, R. J. and Figart, D. M. (eds.) (1999), ‘Emotional labor since the Managed Heart’, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 561, 1, 8–26.
Thorough overview and discussion of recent research themes on emotional labour.
Tonkens, E. (2012), ‘Working with Arlie Hochschild: connecting feelings to social change’, Social Politics, 19, 2, 194–218.
This article aims to make Hochschild's theories more amenable to the study of social policies’ impact on emotions. It bridges the gap between Hochschild's micro- and macro-level concepts by introducing the concept of ‘citizenship regimes’.
Turner, J. H. (1999), ‘Toward a general sociological theory of emotions’, Journal for the
Theory of Social Behaviour, 29, 2, 133–61.
A highly analytical work containing propositions on how we can conceptualise the arousal of emotions with reference to self and identity.
Von Scheve, C. and Von Lüde, R. (2005), ‘Emotion and social structures: towards an interdisciplinary approach’, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 35, 3, 303–28.
Overview of social theories on emotions and discussion of emotion as a product of civilization.
Wharton, A. S. (2009), ‘The sociology of emotional labor’, The Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 147–65.
This article reviews theory and research on emotional labor with a particular focus on its contributions to sociological understandings of workers and jobs.
Research networks
TASA Emotions and Affect Thematic Group
www.tasa.org.au/thematic-groups/groups/sociology-of-emotions-and-affect/
The Emotions and Affect Thematic Group is part of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) and brings together a growing body of theory, methods and interconnected research on social emotions and affect. One of the group's objectives is to understand the role of emotion in the policy process.
Sociology of Emotions Research Network
The Sociology of Emotions Research Network began as a research stream (Sociology of Love and Hate: Emotions) at the European Sociological Association (ESA) conference in Murcia, Spain in September 2003. Since then, it has gathered researchers sharing a range of substantive research interests drawing upon diverse methodologies.
ASA Section on Sociology of Emotions
www2.asanet.org/Emotions/index.html
The Emotions section of the American Sociological Association (ASA) brings together social and behavioural scientists in order to promote the general development of the study of emotions through the exchange of ideas, theory, research and teaching. Scholars from a variety of backgrounds are members, and collectively encourage the study of emotions in everyday social life.
International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE)
The ISRE promotes interdisciplinary and international dialogue and collaboration in the area of emotion research. It encourages collaboration on new research areas and organises workshops and training on new techniques and paradigms.
Amsterdam Centre for Cross-disciplinary Emotion and Sensory Studies (ACCESS) http://access-emotionsandsenses.nl/
ACCESS provides a platform for cooperation between scholars from the humanities, the social sciences and the life sciences who study emotions and the senses. All share the assumption that the experience and expression of the emotions and senses are culturally conditioned. The website contains many useful links.
Upcoming conferences and events
Berkeley, United States, 2–6 August 2013: The University of California at Berkeley hosts the next biannual meeting of the International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE).
Turin, Italy, 28–31 August 2013: The bi-annual European Sociological Association (ESA) conference always hosts several sections and panels on emotions.
