Professional Emotions in Court: A Sociological Perspective by StinaBergman Blix and ÅsaWettergren. (London: Routledge, 2020, 194 pp., £36.99)
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| Author | Meredith Rossner |
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12215 |
PROFESSIONAL EMOTIONS IN COURT: A SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE by STINA BERGMAN BLIX AND ÅSA WETTERGREN.
(London: Routledge, 2020, 194 pp., £36.99)
The so-called positivist or objective view of the legal process that assumes
separation between rational deliberation and the realm of emotions has long
been challenged by socio-legal scholars. Pioneers in this field have drawn
our attention to the feeling rules, emotional labour, and management of
emotions in court; pointed out the performative and dramaturgic aspects of
the legal process; and reminded us to play close attention to ritual, language,
interaction, power, and status.
Stina Bergman Blix and Åsa Wettergren’s book is a welcome contribution
to this important body of knowledge. The authors broaden the study of
emotions and court to a civilian context, with an in-depth analysis of
Swedish judges and prosecutors (though Sweden maybe considered to belong
to a sort of hybrid inquisitorial/adversarial tradition). They also shine the
sociological spotlight on background emotions. These are the more subtle
feeling states that are not at the forefront of our cognition, to such an extent
that we might not even realize we are feeling them.1Background emotions
include feelings of seriousness, autonomy, comfort with power, or pleasure
in using one’s intellect. They might not be considered ‘emotional’ emotions,
but as the authors show, they have a significant impact on professional
identity, contributing to what they call the ‘emotive-cognitive judicial frame’.
Background emotions facilitate our involvement in a desired course of action
– that is, they help us to do the work of rational deliberation.
These achievements are related. In an adversarial system it might be
somewhat easier to study foreground emotions as their display is easy to spot,
particularly in countries like the United States where lawyers might express
outrage or sadness when they perform for a jury and judicial expression of
emotion is somewhat more common. In civilian systems, where professionals
see themselves as part of a neutral, bureaucratic apparatus, legal professionals
(and judges in particular) see themselves as standing outside the political
sphere – they do not belong in the messy reality of emotions, morality, and
everyday life. Bergman Blix and Wettergren note that by choosing to study
judges and prosecutors, they were effectively forced to focus on background
emotions, since foreground emotions are so rare. Swedish judges are not
known for their expressive outbursts – they take pride in their ‘stone faces’.
The authors play with this cold Nordic stereotype, describing how the closest
a judge comes to displaying anger in the courtroom might be when they gently
1 This is to be contrasted with foreground emotions, in which the person feeling the
emotion becomes immediately aware of this internal state. An example of this is a judge
who becomes sad when hearing evidence givenin court. The judge feels like cr ying, and
this sadness becomes a foregrounded emotion in that the judge must shift their focus
away from the hearing and towards making an effort not to cry (p. 1). See J. Barbalet,
Emotions and Sociology (2002).
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© 2020 The Author. Journal of Law and Society © 2020 Cardiff UniversityLaw School
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