ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the social consequences of collective emotions for members of larger social units, in particular, nations and national groups and to establish links between hitherto unconnected lines of research. The primary emphasis is on collective emotions arising in ritual contexts, crowds and gatherings, as proposed by Durkheim, and less so on collective emotions in the sense of group-based or intergroup emotions. Durkheim had suggested that the idea of the community is born in the moments of collective effervescence in ritualized contexts. The collective emotions experienced in these contexts not only affectively charge the symbols representing the group, but also produce feelings of belonging and solidarity and reinforce social cohesion and identification with the group lasting well beyond the actual ritual practices. The chapter is devoted to the effects of collective emotions on national identification, solidarity and longer-term emotional climates.
