Michael Hviid Jacobsen is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Denmark. His research is concerned with topics such as crime, utopia, ethics, death and dying, palliative care, qualitative methods and social theory. His recent publications include Beyond Bauman, Postmortal Society, The Interactionist Imagination, The Age of Spectacular Death and Emotions, Everyday Life and Sociology.

• Introduction – welcome to the world of emotions: emotions in culture and everyday life 1 Love: why romantic love matters in uncertain times 2 Pride: feeling good about myself because of you, because of us 3 Shame: situations and enduring presence 4 Self-blame: the torments of internalised guilt, regret, shame and blame 5 Loneliness: the decline of cultural and everyday sources of belonging in contemporary societies 6 Sadness: feeling, display and management in everyday life 7 Depression: emotion and (or) dis-connection in late modern society 8 Anxiety: fear and worry in the modern mind 9 Fear: a recent history 10 Contempt: the emotional rejection of those who are beneath our standards 11 Indignation: immoral shocks, moral actions 12 Nostalgia: an essentially contested emotion 13 Hope: fortitude or folly in the odyssey of sociology? 14 Ambivalence: exploring a mixed emotion