Je t’aime, moi non plus? Emotions and sociologists (of culture)

This article is informed by the observation that, while emotions are at the heart of cultural works and practices, until recently little research in France had focused on the multiple and reciprocal links between the two. The first part of this article considers the reasons for this paradox. Over and above the division of scientific labour, it highlights the importance of the polysemy, vagueness, and ambiguity of the concept of emotions. These characteristics have made it difficult to appropriate and to use it empirically, particularly in the sociology of art and of culture, where scientific rationalism has long prevailed. The second part of the article points out that the sociology of emotions has distanced itself from cultural practices and works because of its predilection for both theoretical (structuralist) approaches and empirical interactionist analyses. Finally, the last part shows that, while emotions have received little or no attention in explanations of the love of art, they have appeared from the margins in the works of feminist Cultural Studies and of the French scholars who have drawn on it to characterize the lifestyles of young working-class women.