Interactionist Theories of Emotion

Abstract

Classical and contemporary developments in the study of culture are examined for ways to conceptualize emotion(s) and to frame their study. The foundation of this approach is found in early social pragmatism and interactionism, both of which view the structuring of mind, self, and emotion as sociocultural processes. The same principles are found in contemporary arguments about emotions and subjectivity made by ‟constructionist” works in psychology and social science as well as in culture theory today. These approaches have given greater emphasis to the study of everyday beliefs of social actors, arguing that the entire domain of subjectivity is not (as commonly understood) devoid of social and cultural influence. Rather, subjectivity itself is “socially constructed.” In this way and in others, pragmatist social psychology and contemporary culture theory have both enlarged and changed the idea of subjectivity from something isolated and unique and purely individual to something shared and observable. Subjectivity’s continual formation and development take place in society in interaction with others. Accordingly, emotions and the ways they are experienced exist within socially and historically variable cultures, implying that people’s ideas about what emotions are and what they mean vary across cultures as well as within cultures.