CALL FOR PAPERS:
EMOTIONS
in the public and everyday life of modern societies
DEADLINE: 7.12.2020 (abstracts) / 28.02.2021 (papers)
THEMATIC EDITOR OF THE ISSUE:
dr Maja Sawicka (University of Warsaw)
m.sawicka@is.uw.edu.pl

The recent years in social sciences and humanities have been a period of increased interest in the emotional aspects of human activity. Behind this peculiar “affective turn” within the social sciences (see Clough and Halley, 2007) is probably not so much the exhaustion of other paradigms or areas of analysis as the observation that emotions are a key dimension of social life, so far neglected by fields oriented on researching collective phenomena and arrangements. However, a greater concentration on emotions within these fields may at the same time testify to a deeper and much more significant social process – a certain change in the logic of human action, leading to the growing presence of emotions in the social space, interpersonal relations and interactions, the public and institutional sphere; looking at contemporary societies, including Polish ones, we may observe a kind of “emotional intensification” – putting emotions in the foreground wherever they have so far given way to other coordinators of social activity and organisation.

In order to meet the growing demand for in-depth analyses of the presence of emotions in social life, we invite you to send in articles devoted to the issues of emotions from the perspective of social sciences. In the planned issue we would like to enter into a critical dialogue with the thesis of emotional intensification within modern societies: are emotions really becoming a key force influencing social life today? Does and how does the alleged “emotionalization” affect the public debate, axiology, the symbolic sphere? What role do emotions play in a social organisation and collective action? The idea of the issue will be to combine theoretical reflection on emotions and empirical analyses according to the assumption that the study of the presence of emotions in social life gives insight not only into the structure of individual emotional experiences but above all into deeper social processes revealed in these experiences.

We suggest the following thematic areas:

• Emotions in politics, including: the affective dynamics of public discourse and debate,
  populism as a manifestation of emotional intensification in politics;
• The affective dimension of democracy, including: cooperation, solidarity,
  antagonisms, conflicts and their meaning for democracy, emotions as a source of civic
  involvement, emotions in collective action and social movements;
• “Emotionalization” of institutions, including: the entry of emotions into the space of
  institutions and related challenges; strategies for managing emotions in institutional space,
  social control;
• Social ties and divisions and emotions, including: shame and pride as key social
  emotions, the affective dimension of collective identities and the role of emotions in the
  processes of their construction;
• Emotions in extreme social situations, including: the emotional dynamics of the
  Covid-19 pandemic, the meaning and impact of moral emotions;
• Emotions in everyday life, including: the role of emotions in social interactions,
  emotions in culture, the social construction of emotions.

The above list of issues is only indicative – we are open to all proposals within the broad thematic scope suggested in the title. In case of any doubts, please contact the editorial office or thematic editor of the issue.

Submissions:
Papers in Polish or English should be sent to the editorial office’s e-mail address (zoonpolitikon@civitas.edu.pl) by 28 February 2021. Papers should be prepared taking into account the technical requirements of the journal (see https://www.ejournals.eu/ZoonPolitikon/info/21/71/). Each article will undergo a standard review procedure (double blindreview).
Authors may also send abstracts of planned texts directly to the thematic editor or the editorial
office until 7 December 2020. They will receive feedback on their propositions by 14 December 2020.

The thematic editor of the issue:
dr Maja Sawicka (Department of Sociology, University of Warsaw) – adjunct in the Department of Sociology, UW, she deals with the sociology of emotions and social interactions and the methodology of qualitative research. In her work she analyses the relationship between culture, social structure transformations and individual experiences. Recent, chosen, publications: Emotions in digital interactions: Ethnopsychologies of Angels’ Mothers in Online Bereavement Communities (with Irene Rafanell, Palgrave Macmillan 2020) and Emotions in interactions of modern Polish society (in Polish, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 2018).