For almost thirty years sociologists have increasingly theorized about and conducted research
on human emotions. Surprisingly it was not until the 1970s that the sociology of emotions
emerged as a coherent field of inquiry. What makes this late date surprising is that it is now
obvious that human behavior interaction and organization are driven by emotions. It was an
immense oversight for emotions to be de-emphasized in sociological theorizing and research for
most of its 175 year history. Since the 1970s however the study of emotions has accelerated
and is now at the forefront of sociological analysis. This book is designed to bring the reader
up to date on the theory and research traditions that have proliferated in the analysis of
human emotions. Key figures who have carried the sociology of emotions to its current level of
prominence review their own work and the work of others who have made contributions to a
particular approach to the study of emotions. The outcome is a comprehensive book that serves
as a primer on the cutting edge of sociological work in what is obviously a key dynamic in
human affairs. The first section of the book addresses the range of emotions and how they can
be classified the neurological underpinnings of emotions and the effect of gender on
emotions. The second section reviews the prominent sociological theories of emotions including
theories emphasizing power and status rituals identity and self psychoanalytic dynamics
exchange expectation states and evolution.While there is little integration among these
theories this state of affairs will not last forever. The third section addresses theory and
research on specific emotions such as love jealousy and envy empathy sympathy anger grief
and the moral emotions. While this list does not exhaust the range of human feeling they are
central emotions that drive human behavior interaction and social organization. The last
section explores howthe study of emotions has added new insight into other subfields within
sociology such as the study of the workplace health and social movements. These chapters
illustrate how the sociology of emotions can provide new research and theory for the large
numbers of specialties within sociology. Although no book can completely cover a field even a
relatively new one like the sociology of emotions this Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions
comes close to being comprehensive. The reader will come away with a greater appreciation for
how far the sociology of emotions has developed and prospered over the last thirty years.
