Undergraduate Course: Political Emotions (PLIT10160)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This political theory module introduces students to key philosophical debates about the role of emotions in social life. It problematises dominant views that oppose emotion to reason and offers more complex analyses of how emotions move individuals and groups to act and position themselves politically. The module starts by outlining the main approaches to the study of emotions. It then moves on to debates about rationalism in politics and social science. The bulk of the course consists of in-depth discussions of several emotions - anger, love, hate, despair, disgust, grief, and hope, among others - as related to different political issues such as: democratic participation; markers of identity such as class, race, gender, sexuality; the climate emergency; populism; authoritarianism; and political violence. |
| Course description |
The course will expose students to sophisticated theoretical arguments about the role of emotions in politics generally speaking, but also to in-depth analyses of specific emotions that track objects of political relevance. Theoretical reflection will be accompanied by case-studies from contemporary politics. We will unpack the complex epistemological, motivational and contestatory functions emotions perform in our societies, with a view to articulating a critical perspective on them.
Objectives:
1) to develop students' ability to think rigorously and critically about the fundamental role emotions play in politics. We consider such questions as:
a. What is an emotion?
b. How are emotions constituted?
c. What is a political emotion?
d. What role do emotions play in politics - epistemologically and from the point of view of action?
e. What rules guide emotional expression?
f. What are democratic emotions?
g. What is the relationship between emotions, on the one hand, and the socialization of political agents, on the other?
h. What is the impact of social structures, such as class, gender, racialization, among others, on emotional experience?
2) to introduce students to the main methodological approaches and arguments made by some of the most influential scholars of political emotion, from a wide range of scholarly, cultural and historical perspectives, whose thinking continues to inform current thought and practice;
3) to help students locate key theories of emotions in the contexts in which they were produced;
4) to provide structured help and advice on participating effectively in seminars and completing assessments in a timely manner.
Outline
The first part of the module will begin by introducing students to Cognitivist-Constructionist Theories (which foreground the role of the intellect, judgment, and cognition in the structure of emotion) and to Physiological Theories of emotions (that instead prioritise the embodied dimension of emotion). We will then discuss a thorny question: What makes an emotion political?
The bulk of the module consists of seminars dedicated to a specific political emotion, which is related to a particular political issue. We will cover, for example, the relationship between anger and political contestation; love and political solidarity; disgust and social exclusion; grief and necropolitics; hate and the limits of law; hope and the climate emergency; shame, shaming and political resistance, among others.
The course will be taught as a weekly 2 hours' seminar, combining mini-lectures, small group discussions, structured debates and exercised applying theory to case studies. Reading guides (weekly lists of 2-3 guiding questions) will be made available for all sessions to enable students to grasp the texts' complexity and identify their key arguments.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 4 Politics/International Relations courses, one of which is an intro class to political theory or history of political thought, at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
50% Essay 1 - word limit 2000 words.
50% Essay 2 - word limit 2000 words.
The essays will test the students' theoretical knowledge and will be based on sets of questions the students can choose from - all based on the topics covered in the module.
Students will be asked to deploy the theoretical tools acquired on historical or ongoing political eventa or phenomena that have evident emotional valences. The instructor will help students make their choices of examples and case studies. |
| Feedback |
Feedback on all assessed work shall normally be returned within three weeks of submission. Where this is not possible, students shall be given clear expectations regarding the timing and methods of feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Master key arguments made by historically influential scholars of emotions
- Interpret and analyse political issues from the point of view of the political theory of emotions
- Critically assess a variety of political scientific methodologies deployed in the study of emotions
- Engage critically with a range of dominant views about emotions in public discourse
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Reading List
- Robert C Solomon, What is an Emotion? Classic and Contemporary Readings (OUP 2003).
- Lisa Feldman Barrett, Jeannette M. Haviland-Jones, and Michael Lewis (Eds) Handbook of Emotions, 4th Edition (Routledge 2017).
- Sara Ahmed, The Cultural Politics of Emotion, (Edinburgh Uni Press, 2004).
- Martha Nussbaum, Political Emotions (Harvard U Press, 2014).
- Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider, (Crossing Press, 1984). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
1. expand and fulfil their potential as critical thinkers and contributors to public debates
2. to engage with the communities and world around them on the basis of solid knowledge
3. to identify and creatively tackle pressing political problems
4. to critically evaluate ideas, evidence, and experiences from an open-minded and reasoned perspective
5. communicate effectively complex ideas |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mihaela Mihai
Tel: (0131 6)51 3060
Email: Mihaela.Mihai@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Karen Leung
Tel:
Email: Karen.Leung@ed.ac.uk |
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