Dr. Johanna Kuhlmann 

Abstract of the workshop project – Emotions and social policy\r\nWhile many disciplines in the social sciences have started to focus on emotions to deepen our \r\nunderstanding of social processes, emotions have rarely been studied in social policy \r\nresearch. This is quite surprising given the fundamental role that the welfare state as an \r\ninstitution plays in the life of most citizens, indicating that people should somehow be \r\nemotionally linked to the welfare state and the benefits it provides. Against this background, \r\nthis workshop aims to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue on the role that emotions can play \r\nin social policy research. The first part of the workshop brings together social policy \r\nresearchers and researchers from various disciplines (including public policy, political \r\npsychology, international relations and the sociology of emotions) to discuss on a more general \r\nlevel how emotions can be fruitfully integrated into the analysis of social policy. The second \r\npart of the workshop consists of three panels that are linked to more specific themes related\r\nto emotions and social policy, in which researchers will present their ongoing work. The first \r\npanel focuses on the role of emotions in normative debates of the welfare state. The second \r\npanel looks into the role of emotions in social policy reform processes. The third panel \r\nilluminates how emotions can be studied empirically.