History of Emotions - A Very Short Introduction

Emotions are complex mental states that resist reduction. Intimate and private, yet gaining substance and significance from their social and cultural context, their history is plural. It occupies the intersection of history of ideas, of the body, of subjectivity, and social and cultural history. This book explores its many facets.

List of contents

• Preface


• Acknowledgements


• List of illustrations


• 1: The pulse of the past


• 2: A map of woe


• 3: From passions to emojis


• 4: Terror and the pursuit of happiness


• 5: All the rages


• 6: Looking for love


• References and further reading


• Index

About the author

Thomas Dixon is Professor of History and Director of the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary University of London. His research and teaching explore the intellectual and cultural histories of passions, emotions, love, altruism, tears, and weeping, especially in Britain. His books include From Passions to Emotions: The Creation of a Secular Psychological Category (2003), The Invention of Altruism: Making Moral Meanings in Victorian Britain (2008), and Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears (2015). His broadcast work has included histories of friendship and of solitude for BBC Radio 4, and an award-winning podcast series, “The Sound of Anger”, made as part of a Wellcome Trust research project on emotional health.

Summary

Emotions are complex mental states that resist reduction. Intimate and private, yet gaining substance and significance from their social and cultural context, their history is plural. It occupies the intersection of history of ideas, of the body, of subjectivity, and social and cultural history. This book explores its many facets.

Product details

• Authors: Thomas Dixon, Thomas (Queen Mary University of London) Dixon
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 25.05.2023
• EAN: 9780198818298
• ISBN: 978-0-19-881829-8
• No. of pages: 176
• Series: Very Short Introductions
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; History of Ideas, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, HISTORY / Historiography, Historiography, Social and cultural history, Sociology & anthropology, Sociology and anthropology