Emotioner och emotionella uttryck i Sverige och Grekland
The purpose is to explore and describe norms and values concerning emotions and emotional expression inSweden and Greece from an emotionsociological perspective. Do emotional regimes on a national level existand if they do, how do they differ? To answer this question qualitative interviews have been conducted withnine Greek/Swedes, men and women of different ages, who have lived in both countries and who speak bothlanguages. A quantitative survey study, employing a survey previously used in a Swedish study about emotions,has also been undertaken. Previous studies have shown that emotional regimes do differ historically and acrosscultures, but no study so far has focused on the differences between examples of North European and SouthEuropean cultures.The theoretical framework consists mainly of Hochschild´s theories about feeling/display rules and emotionwork, but the analysis also draws on Collin´s theory of interaction ritual chains and on Sociology of Emotionsmore broadly.The results suggest that different national regimes can be distinguished primarily in terms of display rules andin the skills of emotional alternations. Emotions are encouraged in public, and required to beintense/?spontaneous?, in Greece. In Sweden emotions are kept in private and expressions are subtle. Conflictrenders emotional energy in Greece, while the opposite goes for Sweden. Despite the differences, it issuggested that emotion work and control are shared (universal) phenomena. Gender differences between andwithin the regimes and between generations were also observed. Further research is required to support theseresults.