Sociology of Emotions

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The sociology of emotions deals with the sociological analysis of human emotions . Within sociology, it moved into the focus of science at the end of the 1970s. In previous years, emotion research was located in the areas of psychology (e.g. evolutionary emotion research in the context of evolutionary psychology ) and anthropology and only later found its place in sociology.

Important representatives

Arlie Hochschild and Theodore D. Kemper dealt particularly extensively with the creation . Her theories can be assigned to two opposing approaches, the symbolic-interactionist and the exchange-theoretical.

Arlie Hochschild

Hochschild takes the view that emotions arise from anticipating the rules of feeling . You are aware of these rules and try to adapt your emotions and the expression of your emotions to these rules. If there is a discrepancy between what is felt and what is socially expected, emotional work has to be done. The individuals try to resolve this discrepancy whenever possible.

Theodore D. Kemper

Kemper explains the emergence of emotions as a result of social relationships (see also Kempers power-status theory ). Everything social, i.e. every interaction, takes place in the two dimensions of power and status . As a result, each specific situation leads to a specific physiological state and this then gives rise to a specific emotion. So the emotion of fear arises when one receives less power than would be appropriate in one's own opinion.

Jürgen Gerhards

In 1988, Jürgen Gerhards merged the two models by Hochschild and Kemper and developed his own model from them , which describes the social conditions for the development of emotions.

Gerhard's model

Gerhard's definition of emotions

"Emotions are positive or negative experience types a subject resulting from the assessment and evaluation of the situation and cause a physiological activation can ".

model

According to Gerhards, the four systems personality , organism , social structure and culture play together when emotions arise .

personality

The personality, i.e. the idiosyncratic moment, is decisive for the development of emotions, since it is decisive for the individual interpretation of situations. Physiological excitation of an individual does not yet result in an emotion. Only the interpretation by the personality can lead to an emotion. This view is represented by supporters of the symbolic-interactionist approach, such as Hochschild. According to Kemper's exchange theory approach, emotions arise through interactions in the two dimensions of power and status. Gerhards points out that only the interpretation of both dimensions can lead to an emotion. Even if the analysis of the emotions is a sociological one, it should be noted that the idiosyncratic moment is of decisive importance, because although everyone is subject to environmental influences, the processing of these impressions is individually different. The interpretation of the situation by the personality system has not yet decided which emotion will arise. This system does not determine the other social conditions that play a role in the development of emotions.

organism

The organism can, so play Gerhards two ways a role in the development of emotions. Although it is not a mandatory condition for the development of an emotion, it is possible that one perceives a diffuse physiological excitation of a certain strength, then interprets it with the help of the other systems and that this leads to an emotion. Examples of such excitement are trembling or sweating . This excitement can also be assigned to a wrong cause, which then leads to a 'wrong' emotion. However, the organism can still play a role after an emotion has arisen. If this has already arisen and the patient then feels physiological arousal, this in turn can lead to a reinterpretation and trigger a new emotion. Gerhards calls this the "feedback loop".

Social structure

This system is shaped by Kemper, for whom the social is defined in interactions by the two dimensions of power and status. The interaction partners ( ego and alter ) then develop emotions, depending on whether their power resources or their status position are high or low. It is also crucial whether you attribute this to yourself ( self-efficacy expectation ) or to your interaction partner. For example, according to Kemper, the emotion fear arises from the fact that the interaction partner ego has too few power resources to be able to enforce his will against the other interaction partner's age and his will. Gerhards emphasizes, however, that the status and power position itself is not decisive for the development of emotions, but rather the interpretation of these with the help of other systems. In addition, there are many factors that influence the interpretation of “power” and “status” and therefore lead to different emotions than those indicated in Kemper's model. For example, a high status position in an intimate relationship does not necessarily lead to a feeling of shame . In addition, it is also important whether one is dependent on the power resources of the other or whether one holds a certain status position through another reference group, which one also maintains in the interaction with other interaction partners.

Culture

The culture decides how the individual interprets the situations. It influences the development of emotions in several ways. For one thing, it codes the personality. So depending on which cultural influences have shaped an individual, they have a certain image of themselves. With this system, Gerhards combines the two approaches of Hochschild and Kemper, since culture is also decisive for the interpretation of "power" and " Status ”, thus influencing the emergence of emotions in a second way. So it is culture that tells an individual what he sees as an important power resource. For example, money can be seen as such. Furthermore, the culture also influences the interpretation of the level of power and status (example: the status should be high if the person has a lot of money - in relation to the interaction partner who has little money). "Emotional culture" is based on Hochschild's concept of the rules of feeling . It is also the case that, after interpreting a power status constellation, a person experiences an emotion that does not correspond to what is culturally given. If this is the case, emotional work has to be done in order to adapt to what is socially desirable. At this point Gerhards most clearly connects the two theories of Hochschild and Kemper. Gerhards defines culture as the decisive moment that is responsible for how people perceive their environment (e.g. in the aesthetic sense: what is beautiful and what is ugly). According to Gerhards, this also means that they know which emotions are appropriate and which are not.

Conclusion

All four systems play a role in the development of emotions. None of the systems alone is sufficient as a condition for the development of emotions. To determine whether this model is valid, it must be confronted with social reality; H. there are examples to be found that show that this model makes sense. Gerhards does this by analyzing recovery from illness. He assumes negative emotions that arise from a serious illness and a long hospital stay. Here the person loses power resources, e.g. B. his job and thus his income, with which he makes a living. In addition, the status position is reduced, e.g. B. in the family, as one was absent for a long time. According to Gerhard's model, it should now be possible to intervene in every system in order to feel more positive emotions and thus promote the recovery process. One can intervene in the personality through a reinterpretation of the idiosyncratic moment. This may be achieved through psychotherapy , which helps to reinterpret the individual self. One can intervene in the organism by reducing diffuse excitations. This could be alcohol or psychotropic drugs , for example . The social structure, i.e. power and status, can also be influenced differently. For example, the recovery process accelerates in people who live in a marriage in which both partners make money. There is no fear of one's own existence here. The status position could improve with more information about the disease and the healing process. The culture is the most difficult to influence. But it would be a possibility to change the reference group that dictates what is right and what is wrong. This would be possible in a self-help group . With this example, Gerhards makes it clear that by looking at a real situation it is possible to determine which conditions can and must be influenced in order to experience a more positive emotion after an illness.

Another important representative in the field of the sociology of emotions is Randall Collins .

Cultures of emotions

Jürgen Gerhards

In the field of emotion research, Jürgen Gerhards defined emotions and their origins. The innovative aspect of his presentation lies in the synthesis of emotions and culture and the associated description of different cultures of emotions. On the basis of this basis, he lists four different forms of development of emotion cultures, which are based on the commercialization and informalization of emotions, on the other hand also new aspects (such as the transformation of emotions into language and new identity concepts).

Cultures of emotions

Gerhards (1988b) describes emotions as positive or negative types of experience of a subject, which arise from the interaction of four subsystems: organism, personality, social structure and culture. Emotions arise through an interpretation of socio-structural conditions and cultural interpretation patterns , which can be associated with the activation of physical systems.

When describing culture, Gerhards leans on the definition of Lipp and Friedrich Tenbruck (1979), which describe culture as a system of common patterns or schemes of interpretation and interpretation. This means that culture enables people to define and evaluate their environment, which enables them to differentiate between “good” and “bad”, appropriate and inappropriate, etc., for example. Based on these definitions, Gerhards developed the concept of emotion cultures, which describes the interpretation patterns of emotions shared by a society or a part of a society. Furthermore, he puts forward the thesis that emotions can only be justified on the basis of existing culture of emotions in a society, in interaction with other factors. In addition, he describes three factors that can influence the culture of emotions:

  1. Cultural interpretations guide the understanding of social structures and thus indirectly influence the formation of emotions.
  2. Culture can have a direct influence on the formation of emotions. This is done through fixed cultural norms and rules that clearly define appropriate emotions and their appropriate expression, for example through emotional rules.
  3. As the last factor, Gerhards lists the “concept of identity ”, which describes the cultural definitions of the concept of personality . The development of an identity arises here through self-perception or observation and through external perception. A central element in the formation of identity is one's own emotional self , i.e. the emotional identity that is shaped by this very process.

Development processes of postmodern emotion cultures

The different cultures of emotions can be classified into two subsystems based on their characteristics, the modern and the postmodern emotion cultures. Approaches to explaining the description of modern cultures of emotion can be found in Norbert Elias ' Concept of Civilization. This theory states that the process of civilization has resulted in a process of increasing control over one's own emotions. This happens through a process that is characterized by the introduction of external standards. For example, in the absence of actual threats, fear of the emotion of shame has grown, which leads to greater control of our emotions in order to avoid situations of shame. According to Elias' theory, control over our emotions continues to increase today. This is differentiated from postmodern emotion cultures, which on the one hand can be understood as a continuation and expansion of the process of emotion control, on the other hand a clear countermovement can be recognized in postmodern emotion cultures. He justifies this contradiction with the help of the heterogeneous interpretation patterns that are given by the environment. Gerhards (1989) focuses on the explanation and analysis of postmodern emotion cultures, working out and defining four dimensions: the commercialization and informalization of emotions, the transformation of emotions into language, and new identity concepts.

Commercialization of emotions

According to Gerhards (1988a), the commercialization of emotions is closely linked to the rationality of economics and the principles of profit maximization . The meaning of emotions was originally generated through emotional rules in the sphere of private negotiation. However, a change has taken place in this regard, as a result of which the definitions of these meanings are now structured according to the guidelines of the market. This means that to explain the meaning of certain emotions no longer “rules of feeling” are used as a yardstick, but economic factors. This change can be explained by the strong expansion of the tertiary sector , which is much more people-oriented. In order to be able to carry out these professions successfully, it requires the controlled handling of one's own emotions, i. This means that in the service professions, the appropriate emotions and their modes of expression are clearly defined and thus one's own emotions are adapted to the needs of the customer. What is important here is the ability to adapt the appropriate emotion rules to the respective work situation; this is also known as "emotion work".

According to Elias, the commercialization of emotions is a process of social change that has greatly changed the nature of emotion control. He also attributes the increased control of emotions to economic factors and the development towards a service society, since in postmodern society it is necessary to flexibly adapt one's emotions to the needs of customers and the economy, to act appropriately and to generate emotions as quickly as possible.

Jürgen Gerhards sees exogenous factors of the economic system as the reason for the commercialization of emotions . In order to survive in a society characterized by economic competition and to achieve profit maximization, it has become a necessity to subordinate one's own needs and emotions to those of the customers. Therefore it became necessary to institutionalize “emotion work”.

Informalization of emotions

To describe the development of postmodern emotional cultures solely through commercialization processes would not, however, be completely exhaustive. In addition to this development, there is a strong counter-movement: the informalization. This describes the informalization process that is associated with a relaxation of control over emotions. A stronger orientation towards individual actions and needs leads to an increased expression and expression of one's own and individual emotions. This development goes hand in hand with a reduction in the feeling of shame and the social acceptance of individual emotions.

This tendency to individualize emotions was attempted on the basis of various studies. For example, Brinkgreve and Korzec (1979) analyzed various columns in guidebooks from the period from 1938 to 1977. From this it emerged that until the mid-1960s the tenor was that people were advised to hold back their emotions and, if possible, not show them . From the 1960s, according to this study, there was a change in cultural emotion control. From this time onwards it was considered important to show emotions and give them expression. According to this study, there was not a stronger control of emotions, as Elias claims, but their informalization and relaxation.

The sociologist Cas Wouters (1986) also attempted to empirically prove the informalization of emotions. In the investigation of behavioral guides from the period 1930 to 1985, he was able to record a strong informalization based on these guides , despite a revival of etiquette from the 1980s. The links between emotional needs, based on institutions and religion, that existed before the 1980s, were broken down in favor of individual behavior and attitudes, with one's own desires and needs becoming increasingly central. Important factors in this development are the social character of a society and its values ​​and norms. In the case of informalization, this means that the “natural” emotional behavior not only found more and more acceptance in society, but also became a kind of norm itself, and consequently people today are considered strange who never show their emotions.

In addition to the studies mentioned above, with the help of which an attempt was made to prove the informalization thesis, there are other arguments that speak in favor of this specific development of emotion cultures. For example, there is an indirect connection between the change from materialism to post-materialism and the change in emotional cultures. For example, people with non-materialistic values ​​are said to be less willing to control emotions. Furthermore, non-materialistic people tried to avoid negative emotions and to maximize their positive emotions. In this case, the non-materialistic movement stands for the change in the culture of emotions towards the informalization of emotions. The central point here is that the achievement of positive emotions also takes precedence over material achievements, traditional ways of acting and normative orientation patterns.

Another argument that supports the informalization thesis is the development of modern cultures from Protestantism to hedonism . This change implies the change from an emotionally strongly controlling self to a person who is constantly in the process of change, looking for self-fulfillment and the satisfaction of his needs (cf. Bell, 1979). This argument is also supported by modern American culture, in which the principle of “Searching for self-fulfillment” has long been one of the principles of society (see Yankelovich, 1981). This social change could be described even more clearly with Maslow 's “Theory of Needs”. Due to the economic development and the associated growing prosperity and the increase in leisure time, the satisfaction of primary needs is assured. As a result, the fulfillment of secondary needs is in the foreground, with the result that emotions also gain in importance (cf. Thome, 1985).

The dubious thing about this chain of arguments is, it is countered, that it only takes into account economic change in connection with the change in the cultures of emotions and thus the cultural aspect is largely neglected. Meulemann (1985) succeeds in using a cultural dimension to justify the informalization of emotions. He cites the fact that secularization processes lead to a reduced acceptance of religious interpretations of the world, which leads to values ​​such as self-determination , autonomy and equality being given a higher priority. This in turn leads to a lower willingness to control one's own emotions and thus to the growing need to express them (cf. Meulemann, 1985).

Transformation of emotions into language

Another aspect in the development of postmodern emotion cultures relates to the process that makes it possible to talk about emotions. Reference is made to both institutionalized forms of expression and the informal nature of the conversation . The importance of this process is that it enables the reflection of one's own emotions and that emotions move from the private to the public sphere. Even if there is no empirically proven evidence for this process, there has been a great increase in the field of psychotherapy, psychological publications, guides, etc. This also leads to an institutionalization of emotions (cf. Gerhards, 1989).

New concepts of identity - the emotional self

This approach is based on the fact that changing the cultural framework also changes the cultural definition of emotions. This has an impact on identity formation, since both the self and the emotional self are part of it.

Ralph Turner (1976) distinguishes between the “institutional” and the “impulsive” self in this context. The institutional self is an image of identity that is based on institutional guidelines, expectations and roles. The aim here is to bring the "true self" into harmony with these patterns as optimally as possible. The opposite of this form of identity is the impulsive self. According to Turner, this is not based on external role models or expectations, but instead on internal, individual needs and emotional states. In reality, mixed forms of these identity concepts usually occur (cf. Turner, 1976).

Furthermore, this approach takes into account the importance of emotions for building identity. Unlike other factors of identity formation, emotions could not be regulated away by social systems and thus served as functional and stable equivalents of meaning patterns. This becomes particularly clear when one considers that in modern society there is a loss of the structural functions of family, work and other forms of life. Homogeneous groups are becoming less and less important because diversity has increased in all areas of life. The previous conventions for appropriate behavior are therefore losing their influence, whereas opportunities to shape oneself are becoming more important. For this reason, emotions are now used as a fixed orientation pattern in the formation of one's own identity (cf. Luhmann, 1986).

Conclusion

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Theory finding!

From the point of view of the four starting points listed by Gerhards, it is noticeable that these categories are in part not clearly selective or not necessarily mutually exclusive. Even if the commercialization and the informalization of emotions are contrary to each other, both forms occur in parallel, or sometimes take place at the same time in different areas. This means that even if there is increased control of emotions in some areas, an increasing informalization of emotions can be observed in others. Postmodern emotional cultures are therefore characterized by a high degree of diversity.

According to Gerhards, this places new demands on actors in dealing with their emotions. In today's culture of emotions, flexible handling of a wide variety of emotional demands is required. While in certain situations you have to choose between differently formalized social interactions or have to be able to deal with them, in other situations less formalized handling of emotions is desired. In summary, this means moving in different emotional contexts and dealing with one's own emotions “correctly” (cf. Gerhards, 1989).

Criticism and further approaches

A point of criticism of Gerhard's remarks is cited that he only refers to the description of the Western postmodern emotional cultures. This is insufficient to explain the formation and handling of emotions in different cultures . Mesquita and Markus (2004) offer an alternative approach to differentiating between emotions in their cultural contexts by defining so-called "models of agency" which are used to describe the formation of emotions within certain cultures. These are frames of ideas and methods of action implied by culture, which provide frames of action for the self and others and relate them to one another. These models relate to the ways in which reality is defined. It is also possible that these frameworks for action are reflected on or favored, for example through language, media, sanctions or education. In this way, "Models of Agency" form the meaningful instances by which people would draw meaning from their actions and coordinate them. Based on these culturally given patterns of action, certain emotions can be derived, whereby the emotions resulting from adherence to the action pattern are perceived as positive and those arising from deviations are perceived as negative (cf. Markus, Mullally, & Kitayama, 1997).

Models of Agency

Disjoint "Models of Agency"

Mesquita and Markus (2004) divide the "Models of Agency" into two categories, "conjoint" and "disjoint". The cultures that are characterized as "disjoint" are mainly located in the European-American region. In these cultures, actions rated as normatively good should lead to the creation of an independent and autonomous self. It is important here, for example, that one's own behavior should stand out from the actions of others, i.e. H. there is a strong focus on the self and its individuality. Actions should be as free from others as possible, and the perception of the environment is also composed according to its importance for the individual. In this model, these patterns of action lead to positive emotions, which are to be preserved by actively influencing their environment and choosing or ending relationships according to their needs. In this model, individual freedom is to be equated with happiness and positive emotions (cf. Mesquita & Markus, 2004).

Conjoint "Models of Agency"

"Models of Agency", which are categorized as "conjoint", mainly refer to East Asian cultures. In these cultures, actions are significantly influenced by others and are geared towards a community such as family, community, etc. Actions and behavior should serve the fulfillment of mutual expectations and duties, which thus largely dictate the behavior of the individual. Since the perception of the environment is composed of the importance for others and not of that for the individual, it is important to include the perspective of others in his behavior. Because of this, the individual is constantly trying to improve the compatibility between their own actions and the expectations of others. In these cultural areas it is therefore so important not to stand out too much from the community through one's behavior, as one does not want to distance oneself from the community. The aim is a strong harmony and connection with others, as this leads to positive emotions, while demarcation from the community triggers negative emotions. Therefore in these cultures it is important for the individual to maintain relationships with others and meet expectations.

Self-management of feelings as a cultural program

Emotions and economic action

The process of social regulation of feelings has been described in the history of sociological theory as the spread of self-compulsions as objectification and rationalization. In particular, the economic organization of modern society was identified as a driving force through which the emotional dimensions of experience and action were balanced.

Various sociological statements

According to Norbert Elias , the constraints of the increasingly complex economic exchange relationships contribute significantly to strengthening affect control. The feelings are more and more controlled. Georg Simmel sees the "flattening of the emotional life ", which is recognizable as an emotional characteristic of the modern lifestyle, as a result of the spreading money economy . The economy affects the feelings of our lives less. The sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) examined the charismatic rule that is most strongly supported and legitimized by emotions. According to Weber, charisma is a “necessary extra-economic power” when the interests of everyday economic life become overwhelming. Adorno (1903–1969) and Horkheimer (1895–1973) considered the economic organization to be an emotionally cold zone. Your social theories precipitated negative value judgments about the capitalism .

Modern sociology

In the last 25 years, modern sociology has shown that in business and economics one cannot do without emotions. Emotions are used for economic purposes and industrial products are charged with emotions (see e.g. neuromarketing ). Feelings are rationalized in the sense of credibility and the emotionalization of products and customer contacts is expressly sought by management. The feelings that one has or evokes (that are expected) can or are also used to achieve economic goals, how and whether one sells well, etc. Economic action is not a special case of social action, like economic processes with feelings are connected. Thus, social action as a whole is linked to feelings. The economic actors experience an internal evaluation that signals their feelings to the outside world. One example is panic buying , which shows how people act out of feeling (s) in some economic contexts.

As in all areas of society, there are also specific emotional rules in the economic field, which dictate how emotions can or should be experienced and expressed in a socially desirable manner. “Affective neutrality” is useful in business and is considered an economic norm of feeling. These feeling norms are a social necessity and a subjective emotion management to control oneself, which however should in no way be understood as the pursuit of emotionless material interests.

Two theses in sociological research: alienation vs. Informalization

In the sociology of emotions, two theses about social regulation of emotions face each other today. Arlie Hochschild dealt with the alienation theory . According to her, the employees in a factory are forced to manipulate their feelings: the salesperson forces himself to behave, he shows outward feelings that he does not feel himself.

In professional action and stressful situations , emotional strategies are used in which the seller evokes the “suitable” feelings of the customer that appear favorable for a sales contract to be concluded. As a result of this requirement of feeling management, Hochschild sees a gap between emotional expression and emotional experience as well as a strategic practice of emotional inauthenticity , which makes the individual's emotional world outwardly. Colonization of subjectivity, our own evaluation of personal feelings, takes possession of us; From personal joy to inappropriate (economic) norms and expectations: You yourself believe in a personality or feelings that you have.

Hochschild's investigations have triggered numerous debates and critical reactions: Recent studies on service work draw attention to the fact that emotion management also consists of subjective control over customers, superiors and colleagues, which is possible through interactive power gain. These gains in power could be experienced by the employees as confirmation of their own impact on others and strengthen their self-confidence. But the economic use of emotions sometimes causes social suffering and alienation.

The informalization theory, according to which feelings are already learned and how one should behave, is the other way of coping with emotions. The emotions in a social relationship are accustomed (trained) to how one should behave. This is how you learn to act within work, e.g. B. how something is sold, this makes it easier to be “friendly” with the aim of selling products.

The diagnosis of informalization, on the other hand, is based on the increase in personal autonomy in the design of emotional expression, which is a relaxation of emotional discipline in external and self-constraints. The relaxation of external and self-constraints in modern sociology means that the rules of feeling are independent of personality. They are not only shown externally "under social constraints", but shown honestly. In Neckel's opinion, this is proof that this theory is correct, corresponding to a relaxation of the emotional discipline by which spontaneous external rules of feeling are accepted outside of expectations. The two theses “informalization” and “alienation” agree on one point, namely in the subjectification of emotion management.

In alienation theory, this subjectification takes on a strategic form. She accepts that feelings are self-controlled when alienation occurs. The informalization theory sees subjectivation as increased self-reflexivity (self-control or self-assessment) of one's own emotional life. Your own emotional management can be controlled and relaxed. The conclusion of the two theses: The alienation theory uses subjectivation to achieve economic goals and in the informalization theory one has more influence on one's feelings and reflects them oneself. In more recent analyzes, Hochschild speaks of the fact that actors learn to express their feelings as "emotional Capital ”and to understand oneself as an“ emotional entrepreneur ”, so that the feelings used at work and in relationship markets can be invested and withdrawn in a targeted manner for the purpose of social appreciation.

Emotional self-management: "flexible capitalism"

“Flexible capitalism” is about behaving flexibly, being open to short-term changes, constantly dealing with risks and at the same time being less dependent on rules and formalities. Rigid routine and bureaucracy no longer have a place here.

The global economy of the economy is flexible and designed for the short term, which means that the demands on people are high. It demands a flexible person who is always ready for new tasks, forms of work, a new job or another place of residence. Flexible capitalism creates the image of an actor for whom there is no separation between private and work. For him, the two do not contradict each other. In the workplace, you need an ideal coping strategy so that you are convinced yourself why you are doing something like this or force yourself to show feelings. Both theories cannot be separated from each other, the informalization and alienation theories can be one and the same in flexible capitalism. In flexible capitalism, autonomy and control are inextricably linked. Subjectification is understood here as the comprehensive integration of individual characteristics and needs into the functioning of the market and work. The joy of work is an expectation here and is aimed for.

In the modern structures of the working world there is a connection between "emotionality and efficiency". Purposeful and emotional action are indistinguishably linked to one another and the actors see work as the development of their personality and the mixing of work and private life.

Emotional intelligence

Knowing your own emotions, self-awareness (recognizing a feeling as it occurs) is the basis of emotional intelligence .

The most important idea of ​​emotional self-management consists of properties and methods - how something is made and what something is made of. These properties include: autosuggestion and R-framing . In this way, painful and good experiences should motivate the individual, and he should learn to do better the next time so that he is no longer disappointed in the next attempt.

Daniel Goleman ( EQ. Emotional Intelligence ) has summarized five dimensions of the external characteristics of emotional intelligence:

  1. Self-regulation : how to control your emotions.
  2. Self-awareness : how you see yourself.
  3. Motivation : he is motivated by his experiences .;
  4. Social skills : how to deal with others who live in your society.
  5. Empathy : what ability you have to get along with others and assert yourself.

Goleman sees people as "positive thinkers", so that people can unpack the appropriate "chain of emotions" and achieve their goals is always accompanied by favorable experiences. Emotional intelligence has an impact on success in the workplace. Humans have the brain in their hands as an emotion manager, they can play and deal with their emotions. If he sees an experience as “negative”, then it is his own “fault” for seeing it as negative. It gives the "wrong" emotional signal and is therefore viewed negatively. People usually learn from their experiences and are therefore only viewed as positive and motivating.

Shame and social order

Shame and social order are considered in this article from the perspective of Norbert Elias ' (1897–1990) theory of civilization, which he elaborates in his study On the Process of Civilization and which was first published in 1939.

Development of the social structure

Functional differentiation

Elias claims that the social function of the individual is becoming more and more differentiated from the early times of Western history to the present . H. the tasks that the individual takes on for society are becoming more and more special. He justifies this primarily through the existence of larger domains and supply areas and the resulting longer trade routes, increasing competitive pressure , growing division of labor , and rapid technical progress . Through this progressive functional differentiation , the dependencies between the individuals grow and there are ever larger chains of interdependence .

Monopoly of power

The monopoly of power describes Elias in three phases.

  1. The first phase, the age of feudalism , is characterized by competition from many smaller domains. Because every ruler wants to expand its territory as possible, and it can be only one winner in an ongoing competition recently, is a consequence a monopoly of power within a relatively large territory, such as a nation state , inevitable.
  2. This can be described as the second phase, where power is equated with a monopoly of violence and taxes. At this stage there is no longer competition for the expansion and definition of a domain, but only for the management of this domain.
  3. So that the monopoly of power , and thus also the pacified spaces created for the individual within this domain , can be maintained in the long term, the monopoly of power is institutionalized and thus socialized in the third and last phase . This territory is regarded as a pacified area because the individual no longer lives in constant fear of existence and has to assert himself through the state monopoly of force, even in competition with others, through self-defense.

Development of the personality structure

Fears and social norms

The external fears of physical self-defense and self-preservation largely disappear in these pacified spaces , but Elias by no means claims that the fears of the individual in themselves are diminishing. There is only a shift in the position of these fears, which are pushed back from the “outside” to the so-called “inside” and thus become a fear of behaving socially incorrectly.

Elias comes to the realization, especially through the evaluation of manners books, that body-related norms of a “correct” or “good” behavior always arise in the upper class and only reach the lower classes after decades. “In medieval society, people generally blew their nose with their hands, just like they ate with their hands.” The use of a handkerchief, like that of cutlery, was not yet widespread and only became widespread through use on the royal Hof slowly, first in the upper class, and finally established in society , although today the use of a handkerchief, or knife and fork, in Western Europe , has always been considered normal and moral.

External compulsion and self-compulsion

As a result of an increasingly differentiated social functionalization , more and more special relationships of dependency arise among the members of a society. Because of these interdependencies, it is becoming more and more important for the individual to align his behavior with social ideas of how to behave socially correctly or “well”. If he / she does not do this, the consequences will hurt him / her the most. Elias describes this as an external compulsion. Above all through the educational process in the family area, but also in the immediate environment, these external constraints, i.e. social norms and values , are instilled in the individual and, in their sum, form the “superego”, which is described as the human conscience could. The individual regulates himself in his behavior, since he does not want to break a fence out of serious fears . External compulsions would be transformed into self-compulsions through upbringing, and the result is an ever increasing control of affect .

This means that the individual tries more and more through these described self-compulsions to control spontaneous, emotional impulses that he / she feels, so that there is no actual action corresponding to these affects. "The self-constraint that the individual imposes, the fight against his own flesh, is no less intense and one-sided, no less radical and steeped in passion than its counterpart, the fight against others." Another consequence of both the functional differentiation with all its described consequences and the incorporated social norms and values ​​in the form of self-constraints is the strong advancement of the shame and embarrassment threshold from the 16th century.

Shame and embarrassment

According to Elias, “the feeling of shame is a specific excitation, a type of fear that is automatically and habitually reproduced in the individual on certain occasions.” The feeling of fear only relates to one's own behavior and arises when the individual acts against one's own, cultivated ones Prohibitions of the superego that correspond to social norms and values , violate or threaten to violate these. A vivid example here would be one's own nudity in public .

The feeling of embarrassment can be seen as a counterpart to this, in relation to the behavior of others: "Feelings of embarrassment are feelings of displeasure or fears that occur when another being threatens or breaks through the prohibition scale of society represented by the 'super-ego'." An example would be the nudity of someone close to you in public while you are present. Colloquially, the word “foreign shame” is also used for this.

criticism

Hans Peter Duerr makes extensive criticism of Elias' theory of civilization in his five-volume work The Myth of the Civilization Process . In doing so, Duerr tries to show that “people in small 'traditional' societies were much more closely intertwined with members of their own group than we are today”, and that those who today have a myth like that of Genesis smile, have done nothing but mythize history, and that this " myth of the civilization process" obscures the fact that in all probability there have been neither savages nor primitives, neither uncivilized nor indigenous peoples, at least within the last forty thousand years.

Duerr also criticizes Elias for a one-sided and poorly differentiated evaluation of his sources, especially the manners books . For example, in the first volume, Nacktheit und Scham, he states that, among other things, “special nightwear” did not appear until the 16th century, as Elias claims: “Even northern Germans did not sleep naked, but either in their undergarments, the skyrta, or the serkr, a long shirt with a breast cloth over the neckline during the day so as not to expose the upper part of the breasts. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Gerhards 1988, p. 191.
  2. ↑ See Gerhards 1988, p. 189.
  3. ↑ Gerhards 1988, p. 190.
  4. ↑ Gerhards 1988, p. 191.
  5. ↑ Gerhards 1988, p. 194.
  6. ↑ Gerhards 1988, p. 212 ff.
  7. ↑ cf. Gerhards, 1989.
  8. ^ Mesquita & Markus, 2004.
  9. ↑ a b c d e Sighard Neckel: Emotion by Design, the self-management of feelings as a cultural program. In: Berlin Journal for Sociology. 15, vol., No. 3, 2005, p. 419.
  10. ↑ Neckel 2005, p. 421.
  11. ↑ a b Neckel 2005, p. 422.
  12. ↑ Neckel 2005, p. 423.
  13. ^ Richard Sennett: The flexible man: The culture of the new capitalism. 2nd Edition. Berlin 1998.
  14. ↑ Goleman 1999, p. 65.
  15. ↑ a b Neckel 2005, p. 424.
  16. ↑ Norbert Elias: About the process of civilization . Volume 2, Frankfurt am Main 1976, p. 316.
  17. ↑ Elias, Volume 2. 1976, p. 337.
  18. ↑ Elias. Volume 1, 1976, p. 201.
  19. ↑ Elias. Volume 2. 1976, p. 337.
  20. ↑ Elias Volume 2. 1976, p. 328.
  21. ↑ Elias Volume 2. 1976, p. 327.
  22. ↑ Elias Volume 2. 1976, p. 397.
  23. ↑ Elias. Volume 2. 1976, p. 397.
  24. ↑ Elias Volume 2. 1976, p. 404.
  25. ↑ Duerr 1988, p. 10.
  26. ↑ Duerr 1988, p. 12.
  27. ↑ Duerr 1988, p. 177.

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