Emotional States : Sites and spaces of affective governance

Bringing recent developments in emotional geography into dialogue with political concerns, contemporary issues of governance and the development and implementation of social policy, this book sets the intellectual scene for research into the geographical dimensions of both emotional states of governance and governing emotional states. A range of field sites are used to examine issues of regulation, modification and potential manipulation of emotional affects, professional and personal identities and political technologies. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in social policy, human geography and related disciplines.

What is the political allure, value and currency of emotions within contemporary cultures of governance? What does it mean to govern more humanely? Since the emergence of an emotional turn in human geography over the last decade, the notion that our emotions matter in understanding an array of social practices, spatial formations and aspects of everyday life is no longer seen as controversial. This book brings recent developments in emotional geography into dialogue with social policy concerns and contemporary issues of governance. It sets the intellectual scene for research into the geographical dimensions of the emotionalized states of the citizen, policy maker and public service worker, and highlights new research on the emotional forms of governance which now characterise public life.

An international range of empirical field studies are used to examine issues of regulation, modification, governance and potential manipulation of emotional affects, professional and personal identities and political technologies. Contributors provide analysis of the role of emotional entanglements in policy strategy, policy implementation, service delivery, citizenship and participation as well as considering　the emotional nature of the research process itself. It will be of interest to researchers and students within social policy, human geography, politics and related disciplines.