So many emotions! History and representations of emotions over the centuries

In connection with the UNIL Mysteries, the Unithèque collection managers are offering you a selection of documents on the history of emotions and their representations over the centuries. A thematic selection to discover on the Unithèque site from May 20 to June 2, 2019, as well as in the Renouvaud catalog.

A thematic selection on children’s emotions can also be seen on the Unithèque website from May 23 to 26, 2019, as well as in the Renouvaud catalog.

An emotional company

We currently live in a society that puts the accent on emotions, whether in magazines, TV shows, music, etc. In the age of social networks and mass culture, social life is all about emotions. In the age of social networking and mass culture, social life is made up of emotions, whether in the street, to celebrate a sporting victory, or on the web, with likes and emoticons. The cult of emotion, through the search for thrills, is at the heart of modern life: we seek to frighten ourselves, we crave the adrenalin rush of certain extreme sports, the euphoria of mountaintops for example. We also want to thrill behind the screen, in the stadium or at a concert. Emotions are at the heart of our daily lives, but are they also present in the human and social sciences?

Emotions in the humanities and social sciences

Sometimes considered the enemy of reason, sometimes its ally, emotion has become an object of study in its own right in recent years. Regarded as a characteristic feature of human life and our relationship with the world, emotion has prompted numerous questions from researchers. What are emotions? What emotions shape us and the world we live in? How can we express or control our emotions? Here’s a brief overview.

Psychology

In psychology, understanding human behavior has long required us to take emotions into account, whether they be fear, disgust or empathy. Guided by sensations and not just reason, the human being is body and not just mind. Today, psychology approaches emotions from the angle of biology and neuroscience, i.e. from the study of the brain and the neurobiological processes involved, for example, in the development and regulation of pleasure and pain, but also of wonder. Moreover, in a society in which the injunction to be happy is increasingly present, emotional control is becoming indispensable. The development of positive psychology, which helps to control negative feelings and achieve happiness, is undoubtedly a response to this social evolution.

Anthropology and sociology

Anthropology and sociology, through the study of human emotions, show the extent to which emotions are socially and culturally constructed. In recent years, socio-anthropology has been examining “emotional capitalism”, or the intertwining of consumption and emotions, which generates what sociologist Eva Illouz calls “emotional commodities”. These new commodities, produced by industries as diverse as tourism, sex, music and psychotherapy, are aimed at personal development and self-improvement.
American sociologist Arlie R. Hochschild has coined the term “emotional commodities”. Hochschild, for her part, has coined the concept of “emotional labor” to describe how individuals manage their emotions in everyday life and at work, in order to bring them into line with social expectations. In her view, emotions and feelings are governed by social conventions and rules. In the private sphere, situations and interactions with those around us lead us to follow “feeling rules”, such as being happy at a party, sad at a funeral or feeling love for our children. The professional world is also permeated by emotions, whether they be those an employee must feel when dealing with a customer, or those he must arouse in them through his behavior. The sociologist links these individual emotions to the socio-economic structures of our contemporary societies, and shows us how capitalism produces a standardization and commodification of feelings.

History

When we think of emotions as social facts or cultural constructs, it’s clear that they also vary in time and space. Whether it’s the history of fear, the history of love and friendship, or the history of boredom, the history of emotions highlights the different ways in which feelings are expressed, which vary from one era to the next. What did people fear in ancient times? What made the Greeks laugh? Finally, facial expression is also a subject of study for historians, since, depending on the time and place studied, the face enables the individual to express or conceal his or her emotions.

Philosophy

The history of philosophy studies the various theories of emotions over the centuries, from ancient and medieval passions to friendship, desire, love and shame. The central question of the conflicting relationship (or not) between passion and reason, already present in Plato’s Republic, for example, resurfaces in Ruwen Ogien’s Philosopher ou faire l’amour, devoted to the rigorous, i.e. rational, analysis of love. Other philosophers explore emotions to better understand man and the world as it is, by nature or by culture. For example, is pleonexia – the desire to want more and more – a tolerable emotion today, in a society characterized by the concentration of wealth and over-consumption?

Linguistics

Linguistics studies how emotions are translated into discourse, in particular through analysis of the different ways of expressing and representing an emotion, which can vary from one language to another (Aimer, haïr, menacer, flatter… en moyen français) and from one social milieu to another (cartographie des émotions). Discourse analysis enables us to understand the place of emotions in argumentation, which is often very important. Raphaël Micheli’s thesis, for example, focuses on the parliamentary debates surrounding the abolition of the death penalty, and shows the extent to which emotions are not only used to support an argument, but can become an argument in themselves.

Art, literature and cinema

In art and literature, emotion takes many forms, whether it’s the writer transcribing a traumatic experience, the poet expressing his passion for love, or the romantic artist expressing the sublime through brushstrokes and musical notes. Cinema, for its part, has an astonishing facility for arousing emotion, inspiring pity and fear, but also enthusiasm, laughter and joie de vivre. TV series, on the other hand, allow scriptwriters to deepen their characters’ feelings from one episode to the next, often leading to a strong sense of identification on the part of the viewer.

If you’d like to take a closer look at some of these aspects, or read up on the latest research on emotions, come and discover our selection of documents at the Unithèque, or browse them calmly from home at this address. Enjoy your reading!