Emotion in and through crisis

Abstract

To the extent that emotions are noticed in consideration of crisis they are typically thought to be negative, linked to the disruptive consequences of crisis. Based on semi‐structured in‐depth interviews the article shows that crisis precipitates not only negative but also positive emotions and that the complex of emotional experiences that emerge in the COVID pandemic crisis play a significant role in the transformation of outlook and practice persons undergo during crisis. Situating the study of crisis in an emotions‐interaction framework the article identifies the properties of relational emotionality inherent in experience of crisis, revealing the nature of ambivalent emotions and identifying other‐directed emotional labour. Crisis is not only a social relational but also a collective phenomenon through which actors are embedded in emotional constellations. A study of crisis in relation to emotion contributes to sociological understanding of not only crisis but also emotion.