Emotions, Subjectivities, and Sociodynamics of Inequalities | Emociones, Subjetividades y Sociodinámicas De Las Desigualdades

The relationship between emotions and social inequality is at the heart of the Sociology of Emotions; it has been addressed from different perspectives. We can mention some examples: Theodore Kemper's socio-relational approach to emotions and their impact on the unequal distribution of status and power. Then, Randall Collins' theory that focuses on the emotional micro-bases of social inequality via the differential accumulation of emotional energy. Andrew Sayer also problematizes the moral dimension of social class, addressing the subjective experience of inequality and emotional responses to it. Underlying them is the idea that everyday emotional experiences generate differential dispositions in the subjects. In this way, emotions shape subjectivities, where some assume an attitude of entitlement while others internalize a subordinate position.

We are interested in revisiting the issue of the construction of inequalities in symbolic and moral terms, problematizing the role of emotions and affects. How do emotions contribute to the construction of differential subjectivities? How do subjects unequally appropriate emotional resources? What emotional dynamics are configured, and in the framework of which institutions? How do emotions construct acceptance of what each person deserves? What are the emotional substrates of meritocracy? How do these processes of acceptance of the superiority/inferiority of the other take place? How do emotions contribute to shaping the subjects' sense of agency?

This session is interested in empirical research results exploring social inequalities' socio-dynamics and the role of emotions in them in different social and institutional contexts.