Emotions and Civil Society

Giacomo Lampredi is a research fellow at the Department of Philosophy ‘Piero Martinetti’, University of Milan, Italy. His research interests centre on the sociology of emotions and the ethics of care, with a particular focus on the politicisation of civic life. This line of inquiry has informed his empirical research on the role of emotions and care in pro-migrant mobilisations, environmental conflicts, climate activism and animal solidarity.

In this beautifully written and thought-provoking book, Lampredi weaves together theory and empirics, philosophy and sociology, to develop an innovative pragmatist theory of emotions centered on the concept of sensibilities. Drawing on four ethnographic case studies, he shows how sensibilities can be cultivated through the shared experiences of actors in civil society, and the powerful sense-making and motivational capacities this opens up for politics. Emotions and Civil Society is a wonderful contribution to pragmatist sociology.Neil Gross, Professor of Sociology, Colby CollegeCrafting a pragmatist-inspired theory of emotions Lampredi's book moves the conversation in exciting and productive ways. Part theoretical reflection, part pointed ethnographic vignettes, the book will be a touchstone for sociologists of emotions, pragmatists, and political sociologists alike.Iddo Tavory, Professor of Sociology, New York UniversityInspired primarily by John Dewey and Herbert Mead, and in dialogue with central contributors to the growing fields of the sociology of emotions and affect, this book offers a pragmatist approach to emotions for the 21st century. With timely empirical examples from collective civic action highlighting crucial contemporary problems, Lampredi advances a theory of emotions as rhythmic and aesthetic sensibility that is collectively cultivated and essential for human involvement with the world. A highly inspiring and thought-provoking read for researchers as well as advanced students who are exploring new ways of thinking about what emotions are and what they do.Åsa Wettergren, Professor of Sociology, University of GothenburgThe crisis of the relationship between emotions and democracy now has a radical new interpretation: it is a crisis of the sensory capacities of citizens to feel, perceive, and recognise the real emergencies of the contemporary world and consequently to respond to them. This sensitivity must be urgently nourished, nurtured, and cultivated through civic engagement. Attaining it, novel perspectives on emotions, and new and creative forms of democratic life and civic action will bloom.Giampietro Gobo, Professor of Science and Technology Studies, University of Milan

• AI acknowledgementList of abbreviationsList of figuresList of tablesIntroductionPart 1: Sensibility, emotions and civic aesthetics1. Emotions and sensibilities: a pragmatist perspectiveA pragmatist approach to emotions(An)aesthetic emotionsAesthetic publics: community, democracy, imaginationA pragmatist view of the sociology of emotionsSome remarks2. Cultivating sensibilities: a civic aestheticsThe civicCultivationCultivating sensibilitiesCivic aesthetics: why aesthetic emotions matter for democracyPart 2: Civic aesthetics in action3. Cultivating hospitalityWhat is hospitality?Two Italian homestay programmesAffective ruptures in hospitalityInfrastructures for the cultivation of hospitalitySome remarks: what kind of civic aesthetics?4. Cultivating hopeWhat is hope?Ultima GenerazioneClimate-related affective rupturesThe aesthetics of hopeSome remarks: what kind of civic aesthetics?5. Cultivating solastalgiaWhat is solastalgia?The Monte Amiata geothermal conflictMonte Amiata’s solastalgia: living within a ‘suspended’ ruptureThe ‘Mother Mountain’ myth as aesthetic repair: a perverse cultivation of solastalgiaThe apocalypse paradoxSome remarks: what kind of civic aesthetics?6. Cultivating multispecies solidarityWhy multispecies solidarity?Two kinds of activity examinedCare and witnessingAesthetic rupturesCultivating, or sowing the seeds of multispecies solidarity?Some remarks: what kind of civic aesthetics?ConclusionsMethodological appendixMethodological approachData collection tools, participants and contextsData analysisIndex