Feeling-Thinking: Emotions as Central to Culture

Abstract

In the past generation, the effects of culture have been acknowledged throughout the human sciences, including the study of social movements. The shared tools by which we make sense of the world — through schemas, narratives, frames, practices, identities, and so on — are now seen to permeate and define both structures and action. An extensive cultural toolkit is available to those who study revolution, protest, and other forms of mobilization (overviews include Jasper 2005, 2007; Johnston 2009). Even structural approaches to social movements have learned to incorporate cultural factors (Kurzman 2004; Smith and Fetner 2007:46; Tilly 2008).