Embodied emotions between constructivism and ontologism. A reflection from the sociology of Alberto Melucci

ADRIAN SCRIBANO; PAOLA REBUGHINI

SOCIAL SCIENCE INFORMATION SUR LES SCIENCES SOCIALES

Sage

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2018

0539-0184

This article investigates the issue of embodied emotions in social sciences,in a context characterized by increasing theoretical attention to overcomingthe nature/culture dualism, but also by a growing dualism betweenconstructivist and ontological approaches to emotions. We take as pivot ofthe analysis the way in which this topic has been debated by the Italiansociologist Alberto Melucci. The first section of the article locates the workof Melucci in the current debate on the ?affective? and ?ontological? turnswith their impacts on the conceptualization of body and emotions. Thesecond section focuses on the specificity of Melucci?s constructivistapproach in comparison with current combinations of radical constructivismand ontological references at the basis of the ?affective turn?, and highlightsthe role that Melucci gives to social movements as collective emotionalexperiences; the third section historicizes his fieldwork and theoreticalapproach, while the fourth section analyses how the issue of embodiedemotions relates to Melucci?s conceptualization of action and subjectivation.Overall, the aim of this article is not to conduct a thorough cartography ofsociological debate on emotions, nor to be a general overview of thesociology of Melucci; rather, it intends to highlight how Melucci?s approachto investigating emotions from collective action can furnish a differentperspective on the current affective turn in social sciences.