What holds society together? Emotions, social ties, and group solidarity in leisure interaction rituals

ABSTRACT

In sociology, rituals are considered a social practice with powerful effects, and a prerequisite for functioning and sustainment of society itself. It was Durkheim who first identified the need for repeated ritual encounters among humans, in the sense of providing recurrent and cohesive emotions of joy, ecstasy, comfort, shame, pride, etc. However, the theory of rituals which took human emotions into account was proposed much later. This paper will argue for the social importance of everyday, mundane, or leisure rituals such as sports matches, music concerts, and routine conversations, gossip, or meetings over a drink or coffee, as ritual interactions strongly mediated by social emotions. These leisure interaction rituals create important personal experiences and meaningful personal histories, while having significant effects for the society as a whole. The paper claims that societies are not being “held together” by some abstract entity, such as social system or culture, but only through the pockets of micro-solidarity occurring when individuals ritually meet in emotionally charged interactions. It is the social interaction in leisure that generates essential social emotions, social ties, and group solidarity, thus representing the actual glue that holds society together.

KEYWORDS:

• Ritual
• leisure rituals
• emotions
• group solidarity
• the sociology of everyday life

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aleksej Kišjuhas

Aleksej Kišjuhas is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, where he teaches Contemporary Sociological Theory, Sociological Theory of the 20th Century, Sociological Theory of the 19th Century, Social Theory of the Modern Age, Social Theory of the Classical and the Middle ages, and Sociology of Emotions. His main research interests include theoretical sociology, the history of social sciences, sociology of revolutions, and sociology of emotions. He is also a regular columnist for the daily newspaper Danas since 2006.