Research:
The research project aims to fill a significant gap in the sociology of emotions by focusing on the so-called dark emotions—such as inadequacy, anxiety, envy, anger, disappointment, and discouragement—which remain largely underexplored. Specifically, the project seeks to investigate the relationship between these emotions and the performance culture, examining what they are, how they manifest, and what role they play within a postmodern society that uncritically celebrates positive emotions.
The working hypothesis is that these “dark” emotions constitute an emerging and unforeseen effect of the pressures exerted by performance culture and that - especially as a response not merely individual but also social and cultural - far from being purely destructive or sources of disintegration, they may perform latent social functions, serving as instruments of change and social transformation.