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Psychoanalytic Sociology and the Interpretation of Emotion
Author(s) -
Clarke Simon
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal for the theory of social behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.615
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5914
pISSN - 0021-8308
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5914.00211
Subject(s) - psychoanalytic theory , interpretation (philosophy) , psychodynamics , sociology , strict constructionism , social constructionism , epistemology , psychology , rage (emotion) , constructionism , psychoanalysis , social psychology , social science , philosophy , linguistics
Simon Clarke, Psychoanalytic Sociology and the Interpretation of Emotion, pp. 145–163.In this paper I explore the sociological study of emotion, contrasting constructionist and psychoanalytic accounts of envy as an emotion. I seek not to contra each vis‐à‐vis the other but to establish some kind of synthesis in a psychoanalytic sociology of emotion. I argue that although the constructionist approach to emotion gives us valuable insights into the social and moral dimensions of human encounters, it is unable to address the level of emotional intensity found for example in murderous rage against ethnic groups, or the emotional and often self destructive elements of terrorism. Psychoanalytic ideas do engage with these dynamics, and as such, a theory that synthesises both the social construction of reality and the psychodynamics of social life is necessary if we are to engage with these destructive emotions.