How Emotions Make Knowledge: Understanding Emotional Cultures in Science

Lucas Brunet; Ruth Müller

doi:10.6092/issn.1971-8853/21071

Authors

Lucas Brunet Institute for Science in Society (ISiS), Radboud University; INRAE, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences Innovations Sociétés, Université Gustave Eiffel, France https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7720-750X

Lucas Brunet is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Science in Society (ISiS) at Radboud University (Netherlands), and Research Assistant Professor at INRAE, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences Innovations Sociétés (LISIS), Université Gustave Eiffel (France). His research explores how scientists respond to ecological and societal challenges. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies and the Sociology of Emotions, he has examined how emotions shape knowledge production, conservation policy, and peer-review practices. He introduced the concept of “transposition” to capture how conservationists transform negative emotions into positive ones to facilitate environmental governance. Lucas recently co-edited a special issue in the journal Minerva on the diverse ways researchers enact societal relevance in their work.
Ruth Müller Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS), School of Social Sciences and Technology & Department of Economics and Policy, School of Management, Technical University of Munich https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2685-0009

Ruth Müller is Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University of Munich (Germany). She is a researcher in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), a social science research field that explores the interactions between science, technology, and society. In her research, she explores academic work and evaluation cultures as well as the production, circulation, and reception of scientific knowledge and technological innovations in society and policy, with a specific focus on knowledge and innovation in biomedicine, the life sciences, and AI. She is an expert in facilitating inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration across fields and sectors, as well as in different formats for engaging the public. Across all her activities, she centers questions of social justice, diversity, and equity.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/21071

Keywords:

Emotional cultures, research funding, anxiety, epistemic cultures, Science and Technology Studies (STS)

Abstract

The formalization of research excellence and the emphasis on addressing societal challenges have not only reshaped how researchers conceptualize their work but have also transformed their emotional experiences. Drawing on insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the Sociology of Emotions, we introduce the concept of emotional cultures to explore how shared emotional norms and practices shape the professional lives of researchers. By reexamining our previous work, we identify three distinct emotional cultures in academia: an emotional culture of anxiety, prevalent among early-career researchers who face competitive, precarious job markets, and experience continuous acceleration, leading to exhaustion and vulnerability; an emotional culture of eco-anxiety, common among ecological scientists who are deeply concerned about environmental crises, and who develop strategies to cope with their distress; and an emotional culture of hype and opportunism which characterizes grant application processes, while contrasting with a culture of excitement and restraint during evaluations for research funding. The concept of emotional cultures demonstrates that researchers inhabit epistemic cultures, that are inherently emotional, requiring them to continuously regulate emotions in their professional roles. Importantly, it underlines the role of collective emotions in shaping the conduct of researchers and the lived experience of academic work.

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