GROWTH IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

This research reviews growth in one area of theoretical development in sociology. The theory area in which growth is reviewed is the sociology of emotions. Theory growth in sociology is occurring in the contemporary period in relation to emotions (Jackson, 1993, pp. 201-220; Palmer, 1991, pp. 213-229). The development of a sociological theory of emotion, however, is controversial (Peck, 1994, pp. 1-9; Bockover, 1992, pp. 45-56).

Sociology of emotions is "a name for a body of work that articulates the links between cultural ideas, structural arrangement, and several things about feelings: the way we wish we felt, the way we try to feel, the way we feel, the way we show what we feel, and the way we pay attention to, label, and make sense of what we feel" (Hochschild, 1990, p. 117). The sociology of emotions "supplements and deepens theories about how people think or act" (p. 117).

Hochschild (pp. 118-119) defined emotion as "an awareness of four elements that we usually experience at the same time: (a) appraisals of a situation, (b) changes in bodily sensations, (c) the free or inhibited display of expressive gestures, and (d) a cultural label applied to specific constellations of the first three elements." A feeling, in contrast to an emotion, is less "marked by bodily sensation; it is a 'milder' emotion" (p. 119). Emotion functions as a sense; thus, emotion is a part of our sentient natur

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consequences" (p. 159). By contrast, people in the lower social classes experience "powerful pressure for social conformity" and "think in terms of particulars rather than abstractions" (p. 159). These social factors help shape the emotions of the people affected by them. Collins (p. 171) contended that interactionist ritual chains "show how microinteractions add up to the larger class structure of modern society. "Greetings and other forms of politeness tie people together or else set them off as status unequals" (p. 171). A similar set of outcomes derives from "symbolic significance in the way we dress and groom ourselves" (p. 171). According to Collins (p. 171), the "entire society can be visualized as a long chain of interaction rituals, with people moving from one encounter to another. . . . Various outcomes are possible, depending on how each person's cultural capital matches up with the other person's cultural capital." Denzin (1987, pp. 175-180) argued that the desire of Collins to construct a sociological science of the social is questionable because the interpretive sociology's that Collins wants to consolidate defy the science being sought. Franks (1985, pp. 161-170), however, contended that the need exists to
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Approximate Word count = 1794
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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