Course Type: Upper-level elective
Institution: Bryn Mawr College
Semesters Taught: Spring 2025 + 1x prior
Enrollment: 15-20 students

Course Description

I designed and taught this course to introduce students to the contemporary sociology of emotions. Readings and discussions reintroduce students to emotions as culturally varied, yet more universally comprehensible than most linguistic codes, as products of situational structure and social norms, and as objects of agentic work and social exchange.

Course Structure

Module 1: Feeling as Clue - Emotions as social indicators and cultural phenomena
Module 2: Feeling Rules - Social norms governing emotional expression and experience
Module 3: Managing Feeling - Emotional labor and individual agency
Module 4: Exchanging Emotions - Emotions in social interaction and relationships

Pedagogical Approach

• Experiential learning: Students examine their own emotional experiences through sociological lenses
• Portfolio projects: Students explore particular emotions or social patterns of emotional experience in greater depth
• Community-based learning: Building empathy and understanding through structured dialogue
• Theoretical application: Using emotion theory to analyze contemporary social phenomena

Key Learning Outcomes

• Understanding emotions as social and cultural phenomena
• Recognition of feeling rules and emotional norms in different contexts
• Analysis of emotional labor in various social settings
• Critical examination of emotion management and authenticity
• Application of sociological theory to personal and social experiences

Assessment

The course emphasizes self-reflection and accountability through an ungrading system that focuses on learning goals rather than traditional grading metrics.

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Header image: “Emotions” by Melanie Alcantara Correia. Fine Art America. Used for educational purposes.