The emotions that human beings experience play a fundamental role in all social phenomena. As a result, sociology needs to incorporate the analysis of emotions into its objects of study. This process began three decades ago with the birth of the sociology of emotions. This article offers an introductory and critical overview of the work sociologists of emotions have carried out so far. The sociology of emotions in both its theoretical development and in its empirical studies has, up until now, focused more on the structures and processes of micro-interactions than on social-emotional macro-phenomena. Although this shortcoming has recently been recognized and efforts to address it are being made, it is evident that a macro-sociology of emotions remains to be developed.
View also: The Sociology of Emotions
