Rethinking the theoretical relevance of emotions in light of emerging social and political phenomena

The aim of this contribution is to rethink the sociological and political relevance of emotions as a theoretical and analytical tool in light of emerging social and political phenomena. It is not just a matter of valuing emotions, but rather of highlighting the affectively charged and historically situated perceptions of individuals (Martuccelli 2016). Some scholars (Anderson, 2009) prefer to use the term affective atmospheres to indicate a sort of chaotic (dis-)organization of amorphous affective forces creating a temporary inside and outside (Ahmed, 2010), and Mühlhoff (2015, 2019) talks about affective resonance, meaning a dynamic space of reciprocal affective influence, not necessarily symmetrical in terms of forces, typically involving a dyad or small groups. In order to make sense of these theoretical debates it can be useful to contextualise emotions into specific fields of research and analyse them in light of emergent and evolving contemporary phenomena. This paper focuses on some examples of positive contamination between theory and research and between various disciplinary fields. More specifically, it shows the necessity to integrate conventional approaches—mainly based on economic, political and static interpretations of reality—with phenomenological, qualitative and dynamic approaches. The development of a proper interdisciplinary study of emotions should aim to broaden this somewhat narrow horizon and highlight those elements that consolidate its foundations as a fully credited and acknowledged field of study. Whereas structure and internal coherence have not been reached, the continuous attempt to overcome some of its limitations and contradictions pushes this interdisciplinary field to produce theoretically and methodologically innovative results. Our task in the sociology of emotions should be that of contributing to the developing reassessments of the orientations and strategies of sociology. All this will be more likely to happen if we open a dialogue, now still lacking, between the theorists of emotions belonging to different theoretical traditions and different disciplines.