All social relations involve emotional responses, from the simplest face-to-face encounter through the mobilization of social movements to the commitments that individuals develop for culture and society. The social world is thus dependent upon the arousal of emotions, and equally significant conflict and change in societies is ultimately driven by emotional arousal. Thus, it is important to understand how human emotions influence, and are influenced by, the social world. This understanding takes us into the sociology of emotions that has emerged as a distinct area of inquiry over the last thirty years.

Jonathan Turner is a general theorist who seeks to integrate existing theories into more robust and formal theories. He is the author of twenty-eight books and over 140 articles and chapters as well as editor of four other books. He also has been editor of Sociological Perspectives and is currently editor of Sociological Theory.

1. Conceptualizing emotions sociologically; 2. Dramaturgical and cultural theorizing on emotions; 3. Ritual theorizing on emotions; 4. Symbolic interactionist theorizing on emotions; 5. Symbolic interactionist theorizing on emotions with psychoanalytic elements; 6. Exchange theorizing on emotions; 7. Structural theorizing on emotions; 8. Evolutionary theorizing on emotions; 9. Prospects for a sociology of emotions.