ABSTRACT

This volume explores the nature of nostalgia as an important emotion in contemporary society and social theory. Situated between the ‘sociology of emotions’ and ‘nostalgia studies’, it considers the reasons for which nostalgia appears to be becoming an increasingly significant and debated emotion in late-modern culture. With chapters offering studies of nostalgia at micro-, meso- and macro-levels of society, it offers insights into the rise to prominence of nostalgia and the attendant consequences. Thematically organised and examining the role of nostalgia on an individual level – in the lives of concrete individuals – as well as analysing its function on a more historical social level as a collective and culturally shared emotion, Nostalgia Now brings together the latest empirical and theoretical work on an important contemporary emotion and proposes new agendas for research. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory, psychology and cultural studies with interests in the emotions.

chapter |28 pages

Introduction

In times of nostalgia: the brave new world of a grand old emotion

part I|69 pages

Conceptual and theoretical perspectives on nostalgia

chapter 2|19 pages

The psychology of nostalgia

Delineating the emotion’s nature and functions

chapter 3|12 pages

Future imaginings

Nostalgia for unrealized possible selves

chapter 4|20 pages

Retrotopia rising

The topics of utopia, retrotopia and nostalgia in the sociology of Zygmunt Bauman

part II|63 pages

Memory, politics and social critique in a mediatised era

chapter 5|15 pages

Dangerous memories

Nostalgia and the historical sublime

chapter 6|15 pages

The dilemmas of radical nostalgia

Acknowledging the power of the past in the politics of the Left

chapter 7|16 pages

The political staging of nostalgia

Neo-Ottomanism in contemporary Turkey

chapter 8|15 pages

The future of nostalgia is inevitable

Reflections on mediated nostalgia

part III|63 pages

Consumerism, migration and everyday life

chapter 9|18 pages

The dark side of nostalgic bonds

Moral motivators of consumer identities, decisions and behaviours

chapter 10|18 pages

Transmigratory nostalgia

Sentimentality and everyday life on the Japan Exchange and Teaching programme

chapter 11|25 pages

Living in nostalgia

Exploring expatriate experiences of everyday nostalgia in Pattaya