Power, Politics and the Emotions

Offering a provocative and innovative theorisation of governance as relational politics, the central argument of Power, Politics and the Emotions is that there are complex sets of emotional dynamics which complicate the already contested terrain of social policy-making. Equality and diversity are increasingly central components of governance in Western democracies. Arising from the particular social, cultural and political conditions of the late twentieth century, they constitute an important component of the new ethico-politics or life politics, another important element of which is the turn to the emotions. These developments make us think again about the changing processes of governance and shifting relations between institutions, governors and citizens. And Power, Politics and the Emotions uses controversy over diversity and equality policies as a lens through which to explore these broader developments. Contra rationalist accounts of governance, relational politics is the messy, incoherent, ambivalent and often contradictory processes of governance which structure and are structured through social and affective dynamics. Analysing the everyday processes of this relational politics through original empirical studies into equalities work and policy in health, social care, education and the voluntary and community sector, the book develops an innovative interdisciplinary theoretical synthesis which engages with and extends work in political science, cultural theory, critical psychoanalysis and social studies of science and technology/sociology of translation. It will be of interest to a wide range of higher level students and scholars in sociology, social and public policy, legal studies, politics, cultural studies, psychology and psychosocial studies, as well as professional policy-makers and practitioners in the field of equalities in general and in health, social care and education.

Shona Hunter is a Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy Governance at the University of Leeds, England and a Research Associate at the Research Centre into Visual Identities in Architecture and Design at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.