A sociological perspective on emotions in the judiciary
Bergman Blix, Stina LU
and Wettergren, Åsa
(2016)
In Emotion Review
8(1).
p.32-37
- Abstract
- Introducing a sociological perspective on judicial emotions, we argue that previous studies underemphasize structural andinteractional dimensions. Through key concepts in the sociology of emotions we relate professional court actors’ emotionmanagement to the emotional regime of the judiciary. Examples from the Swedish judiciary illustrate three main arguments:(a) The idea of rational justice as nonemotional must be investigated as a joint accomplishment including collective emotionmanagement; (b) Judicial objectivity requires situated emotion management and empathy, orientated by emotions of pride/shame;(c) The structural dimensions of power/status mitigate feeling and display rules. The situated power of the judge is upheld byritual... (More)
- Introducing a sociological perspective on judicial emotions, we argue that previous studies underemphasize structural andinteractional dimensions. Through key concepts in the sociology of emotions we relate professional court actors’ emotionmanagement to the emotional regime of the judiciary. Examples from the Swedish judiciary illustrate three main arguments:(a) The idea of rational justice as nonemotional must be investigated as a joint accomplishment including collective emotionmanagement; (b) Judicial objectivity requires situated emotion management and empathy, orientated by emotions of pride/shame;(c) The structural dimensions of power/status mitigate feeling and display rules. The situated power of the judge is upheld byritual deference from other court professionals. Concluding, we suggest topics to develop structural and interactional perspectiveson judicial emotion. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Introducing a sociological perspective on judicial emotions, we argue that previous studies underemphasize structural and
interactional dimensions. Through key concepts in the sociology of emotions we relate professional court actors’ emotion
management to the emotional regime of the judiciary. Examples from the Swedish judiciary illustrate three main arguments:
(a) The idea of rational justice as nonemotional must be investigated as a joint accomplishment including collective emotion
management; (b) Judicial objectivity requires situated emotion management and empathy, orientated by emotions of pride/shame;
(c) The structural dimensions of power/status mitigate feeling and display rules. The situated power of the judge... (More) - Introducing a sociological perspective on judicial emotions, we argue that previous studies underemphasize structural and
interactional dimensions. Through key concepts in the sociology of emotions we relate professional court actors’ emotion
management to the emotional regime of the judiciary. Examples from the Swedish judiciary illustrate three main arguments:
(a) The idea of rational justice as nonemotional must be investigated as a joint accomplishment including collective emotion
management; (b) Judicial objectivity requires situated emotion management and empathy, orientated by emotions of pride/shame;
(c) The structural dimensions of power/status mitigate feeling and display rules. The situated power of the judge is upheld by
ritual deference from other court professionals. Concluding, we suggest topics to develop structural and interactional perspectives
on judicial emotion. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/cc2e4d40-5041-423e-8ad4-efe1e1598c28
- author
- Bergman Blix, Stina
LU
and Wettergren, Åsa
- publishing date
- 2016
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- court, emotion, judges, power, status, Sociology, Sociologi, court, emotion, judges, power, status
- in
- Emotion Review
- volume
- 8
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 6 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84955475311
- ISSN
- 1754-0739
- DOI
- 10.1177/1754073915601226
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- 2017-11-13T21:28:31.624+01:00
- id
- cc2e4d40-5041-423e-8ad4-efe1e1598c28
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-27 13:27:16
- date last changed
- 2026-02-03 07:45:44
@article{cc2e4d40-5041-423e-8ad4-efe1e1598c28,
abstract = {{Introducing a sociological perspective on judicial emotions, we argue that previous studies underemphasize structural andinteractional dimensions. Through key concepts in the sociology of emotions we relate professional court actors’ emotionmanagement to the emotional regime of the judiciary. Examples from the Swedish judiciary illustrate three main arguments:(a) The idea of rational justice as nonemotional must be investigated as a joint accomplishment including collective emotionmanagement; (b) Judicial objectivity requires situated emotion management and empathy, orientated by emotions of pride/shame;(c) The structural dimensions of power/status mitigate feeling and display rules. The situated power of the judge is upheld byritual deference from other court professionals. Concluding, we suggest topics to develop structural and interactional perspectiveson judicial emotion.}},
author = {{Bergman Blix, Stina and Wettergren, Åsa}},
issn = {{1754-0739}},
keywords = {{court; emotion; judges; power; status; Sociology; Sociologi; court, emotion, judges, power, status}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{32--37}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Emotion Review}},
title = {{A sociological perspective on emotions in the judiciary}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1754073915601226}},
doi = {{10.1177/1754073915601226}},
volume = {{8}},
year = {{2016}},
}