ABSTRACT
Ambivalence is a somewhat overlooked emotion in many textbooks within the sociology of emotions. This chapter aims to rectify this situation by providing an overview of ambivalence as a category and an emotion that may assist in understanding many different aspects of social and human life. In this chapter we will explore ambivalence and its different meanings and expressions. First, we will look into the concept and history of the notion of ambivalence in order to provide a basis for further elaboration and clarification. Then we move into a presentation of ambivalence as an emotional category – something that people feel and which evokes certain emotional reactions in them. Then we will look at different types of ambivalence that each in their way illustrates important and distinguishable dimensions of ambivalence. Based on this, we then present three sociological theories of ambivalence, before we look into a number of empirical studies. The purpose of the chapter is to serve as an icebreaker for the interest in ambivalence.
