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Jasper, James

Jasper, James

James Jasper, born in Takoma Park, Maryland, USA, in 1957. Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley. Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York.

Fellow (1 February 2013 – 30 June 2013)

The Feeling Brain, the Thinking Heart: Emotions and Protest

Since I published The Art of Moral Protest in 1997, I have been working to combine two streams of theory and research: on strategic interactions and on the emotions of politics. The book I hope to complete at NIAS is the culmination of this work, drawing on recent trends that show that how we feel and how we think rely on the same raw materials. Feeling is a form of thinking. Far from the opposite of rationality, our emotions define our ends, provide motivation for action, colour our decisions, and allow us to attract allies and have an impact on others. Attention to emotions and to strategic choices is part of a broader effort to understand the microfoundations of political action from a cultural perspective.

Selected Publications

Getting Your Way: Strategic Dilemmas in Real Life (University of Chicago Press, 2006).

Restless Nation: Starting Over in America (University of Chicago Press, 2000).

The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements (University of Chicago Press, 1997).

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