726
Emotions and Relational Approaches: Simmel’s Legacy and Contemporary Challenges
Emotions and Relational Approaches: Simmel’s Legacy and Contemporary Challenges
Abstract Submissions Closed
Friday, 26 February 2021: 10:45-12:15
Location:
WG08 Society and Emotions (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
There is no doubt that Georg Simmel has been considered a precursor to the “sociology of emotions” (Gerhards, 1986; Frisby, 1992; Scheff, 2000; Watier, 2003; Tester, 2005; Hochschild, 2008; Cantó-Milà, 2012; Sabido Ramos, 2016, Seebach, 2017) Since Philosophy of Money and until The View of Life Simmel’s relational analyses of culture and society allowed him to focus on the affective dimension of life. His brilliant digressions about shame, jealousy, envy, love, gratitude, fidelity, desire, neurasthenia, blasé attitude, and even happiness bear witness to the analytical power of Simmel’s perspective. Since Simmel’s time, the sociology of emotions has emerged and been consolidated as an important area within sociology, and while his important contributions to the field have been considered, the full richness of his oeuvre and perspective has yet to be introduced to the field of the sociology of emotions. At the same time, contemporary society brings us a plethora of challenges: new technologies and ways of feeling, new associations between humans and non humans (Latour) which, working from a Simmelian perspective and within the sociology of emotions, require our immediate attention. For all these reasons, our panel invites scholars to rethink Simmel’s legacy and concretely invites to focus on the following questions: What analytical perspectives and dimensions can a Simmelian relational perspective contribute to contemporary analyses of emotions? What does Simmel’s second order forms approach bring to the field of the sociology of emotions? What methodological instruments can we find in Simmel’s works and legacy for the sociology of emotions?
Session Organizers: