Chronology, Periodization, and the History of Emotions

Abstract

Historical work on emotion depends on a clear sense of chronology, locating major features in time and linking them to other developments in the same time frame. Often, this carries over into formal periodization, where chronology is taken beyond dates in time to a wider set of relationships. Together, chronology and periodization provide the framework within which historians work on issues like the causation and impact of change, including emotional change. This chapter suggests three types of periodization that, together, describe most historical work on emotion. In the first, periods of time that have been defined in other historical work are applied to developments in the area of emotion. Thus, most research on emotions in ancient Greece and Rome refers to an established classical period that relied heavily on major philosophers and would prove influential even after the period itself drew to a close. Emotion-specific periodization is a second option, as in the idea of a “happiness revolution” in eighteenth-century Western culture that introduced durable new elements into this key emotion. Finally, the idea of “emotion regimes” has won considerable attention, seeking characteristics that apply to many emotions in distinguishing one set of patterns from its predecessors.