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 nature. Within the context of the uncertainty that characterizes a person's perception of her or his standing in a society, "one important clue is how we feel" (p. 119).
Three predominant models of emotion are present in the literature--the organismic, the interactional, and the social constructionist (Hochschild, p. 119). The major difference between these models is the significance accorded in them to social influence. The social constructionist models accords the greatest level of importance...