Emotions are cultural practices that give social formations their meaning and power

Evidence

In psychological association in general, once imagination B is tied to imagination A, there also develops the opposite effect: A is called into consciousness wherever B is. Analogously, the sociological form of a given relationship produces, in the manner indicated, the inner state of feeling that corresponds to it, although ordinarily the process runs in the opposite direction. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 9148 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Like other theories of emotion (Arnold, 1969; Duffy, 1941; Frijda, 1986; Lazurus, 1991), this theory of emotional intensity begins with the assumption that emotions are states of motivational arousal—they ‘urge behavior designed to promote or prevent important outcomes or urge adaptation to important outcomes that have already occurred’ (Brehm, 1999, p. 4). Emotions can be ‘defi ned by an intentional structure: that of maintaining or changing a given situation’ (Frijda, 1986, p. 98). That is, they are motivational states that organize and control behavior (e.g. Brehm & Brummett, 1998). — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 22 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Emotion overturns individuated structures only through communal resonance. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 273; Feelings are cultivated according to culturally prescribed emotion work rules. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 86; Authentic emotion itself operates as a repetition of signifying machines, not their opposite — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1189 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Social forms generate corresponding inner feelings, reversing the usual direction #complicates (0.76) — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 9148
• Emotions function as motivational drives that organize behavior toward valued outcomes. #complicates (0.74) — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 22