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9781409442547

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'Through a judicious application of original data and deft argument Charlotte Bloch reveals the centrality of emotions in a range of core academic practices, where their absence or insignificance has long been assumed. This book will overthrow old conventions and establish new ones; it will startle and delight its readers, of which it deserves many.' Jack Barbalet, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 'A delicious look at the inside of universities: interviews with professors and teachers show that they are human like everybody else, perhaps more so. The thrills and chills of higher education are pictured in fine detail: not just how to get ahead, but also how to get in trouble, and the slow process of getting out of trouble. Highly recommended, especially for those interested in organizations.' Thomas Scheff, Professor Emeritus University of California Santa Barbara, USA 'Minimalistic in design and rich in citations, this book takes you up the career ladder and across typical academic situations to reveal the emotional innards of science. It reveals why Ph.D. candidates silence their emotions, women become barred from the community of humour and men turn aggressive and angry. If you are thinking of embarking on an academic path, read this extraordinary book to find out why passion for scholarship exacts such an extraordinary emotional toll.' Helena Flam, University of Leipzig, Germany 'In Passion and Paranoia, Charlotte Bloch sets out to explore the socio-emotional world of the university, primarily through interviews with Danish academics at various stages of their careers. Academia is rarely viewed through the prism of emotion and this book offers insights into facets of the everyday lives of scholars that, although familiar, are seldom openly discussed.' Times Higher Education '... the book's analysis is very rich... Analyses as in this book are crucial for Academia's understanding of itself: the academic's dilemma of being passionate about research, but in constant paranoia of rejection, whereas Academia explicitly encourages critical exchange. All academics should find this book interesting, especially newcomers.' Sociology Research Online 'While research on emotions in organisations in now commonplace, very little work has been conducted in or about 'Academia' itself. With this book, Charlotte Bloch turns the tools and theories of the sociology of emotions back onto ourselves, as academics, and the organisations in which we work. The results are both compelling and illuminating, albeit, at times, disheartening. For this innovation alone, the book deserves praise and attention. ... a valuable contribution to the reflexive study of the academy as organisation, and to the sociology of emotions. Indeed, I suggest that it is, if not essential reading, then will be, at least, illuminating for practically all current or aspiring academics, who may look at themselves and their place of work in a new way after reading it. Too often emotions are relegated to those we study, rather than attributed to ourselves as academics, working, struggling and striving for recognition. This book may help us to better understand ourselves, and the games we play, or are forced to play, with each other. There may be better, more emotionally nourishing ways to play.' Irish Journal of Sociology 'Charlotte Bloch's Passion and Paranoia: Emotions and the Culture of Emotion in Academia is a pioneering study of the emotional world of academe ... the first comprehensive effort to analyse academe's emotional structures. ... her project is one that will provide a lot of useful material for those engaged in moving beyond the neoliberal university and one of its most pernicious consequences, namely, the intensification of academe's culture of emotionlessness - and fear. In the end, Bloch's study only provides more evidence that the academy as currently configured is in desperate need of overall - or as the Rolling Stones might put it, 'emotional rescue'.' British Journal of Sociology 'Although observers from Aristotle onward have acknowledged the central importance of emotion in social life, it has been only recently that emotion has become a topic of empirical research in disciplines other than psychology. In Passion and Paranoia, Charlotte Bloch addresses questions about how emotions are embedded in the organization and culture of academia. In so doing, she adds to our understandings of how individual experiences and consequences of emotion are culturally and socially shaped.' Acta Sociologica

'Through a judicious application of original data and deft argument Charlotte Bloch reveals the centrality of emotions in a range of core academic practices, where their absence or insignificance has long been assumed. This book will overthrow old conventions and establish new ones; it will startle and delight its readers, of which it deserves many.' Jack Barbalet, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 'A delicious look at the inside of universities: interviews with professors and teachers show that they are human like everybody else, perhaps more so. The thrills and chills of higher education are pictured in fine detail: not just how to get ahead, but also how to get in trouble, and the slow process of getting out of trouble. Highly recommended, especially for those interested in organizations.' Thomas Scheff, Professor Emeritus University of California Santa Barbara, USA 'Minimalistic in design and rich in citations, this book takes you up the career ladder and across typical academic situations to reveal the emotional innards of science. It reveals why Ph.D. candidates silence their emotions, women become barred from the community of humour and men turn aggressive and angry. If you are thinking of embarking on an academic path, read this extraordinary book to find out why passion for scholarship exacts such an extraordinary emotional toll.' Helena Flam, University of Leipzig, Germany 'In Passion and Paranoia, Charlotte Bloch sets out to explore the socio-emotional world of the university, primarily through interviews with Danish academics at various stages of their careers. Academia is rarely viewed through the prism of emotion and this book offers insights into facets of the everyday lives of scholars that, although familiar, are seldom openly discussed.' Times Higher Education '... the book's analysis is very rich... Analyses as in this book are crucial for Academia's understanding of itself: the academic's dilemma of being passionate about re

Author Information

Charlotte Bloch is Associate Professor of Cultural Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

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