Linking Emotions: Emotions as the Invisible Threads that Bind People Together

Linking Emotions: Emotions as the invisible threads that bind people together Emotions have always been central to sociological analyses. They were already present and even central in the works of the classics of sociology (Flam 2002). And yet, their centrality was only seldom made explicit until the 1970s, when the sociology of emotions became a legitimised field of study within sociology. This was a late acknowledgement and statement of the obvious: an account of social life without emotions is not possible. How could we speak of our interactions, our interrelations, or even about social structure and major institutions without taking into account those emotions that make us orient our actions towards each other, remember each other while being apart, take care of each other, run away from each other; those emotions that let us feel as one in certain special moments or which may blind us with hatred for or fear of others?