Emotions and Societal Changes: The Nature and Social Functions of “Neo-Emotions”

Neo-emotions are defined by one shared characteristic: they are a response to macro-societal changes. To gain full insight into when neo-emotions occur, a sociological approach needs to be complemented with a psychological perspective to conceptualize the relation between micro- and macro-level processes. I argue that neo-emotions can be considered group-based emotions. Their social function is to regulate potential challenges elicited by societal changes which one's bonds with members of one's group. Neo-emotions increase belongingness to a group and demarcate one's own group from other groups. In addition to strengthening one's social identity, neo-emotions have a societal function to strengthen social movements, providing awareness, commitment, and change. An adequate emotion vocabulary supports these functions but is not a necessary condition for neo-emotions to emerge.