Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict

(Hardback)

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A social scientist with global affiliations, among others with Columbia University in New York, University of Oslo in Norway, and La Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, Lindner takes us across history and into nations worldwide to show how emotion spurs hierarchies of domination and therefore causes subjugation, human rights violations, abuse, conflict, and fighting. She spotlights results ranging from the binding and subsequent deforming of Chinese women's feet, to periods of slavery, bondage, feudalism, apartheid, and other events across time. Related actions from political domination internationally, to spousal or child abuse on the homefront are addressed. Lindner looks at how widely divergent societiesfrom the Japan of Samurais to the Meso America of Aztecs, up to the modern Iraq at warare driven by hierarchies of emotionally-fueled control with rigid domination. Combining classic literature with emerging research, Lindner explains how similar dynamics are at work also in contemporary societies of the West, albeit more covert. What is still lacking, almost everywhere, is access to the full range of our emotions, together with the skills to regulate these emotions so that they become a liberating force in our lives, play a constructive role for productive, fair, and so-called "good conflict," and inform our institution building. Lindner concludes her book by laying out a road map for how to reduce domination and increase human dignity, both in our lives and in the world, by using the power of emotion to implement global systemic change.

Reviews

"This beautifully written book is an education in itself. Every page informs and challenges received modes of thinking and acting in many fields. The penetrating theme of humiliation illuminates the worlds that we think we know and experience. Lindner's command of an extensive literature and practice provides directions for a better life for all humankind."-S.M. Miller Senior Fellow, Commonwealth Institute, Cambridge, MA
"Evelin Lindner, scholar, activist and global citizen has proven, yet again, that she is committed to both research and action that helps to foster new public policies to promote egalization and create a peaceful and just world."-Maggie O'Neill, Professor of Social Policy and Criminology, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
"I find Evelin Lindner's theories not only fascinating, but truly innovative in a field of research often pervaded by a certain rhetoric. Her text on the equation conflict=emotion, spotlights a subject that has been rarely explored, and never in such a wide perspective. Her work is very illuminating."-Emanuela C. Del Re, Professor, University "La Sapienza" of Rome (Italy)
"In the heavy seas of rational choice perspectives, Evelin Lindner's focus on emotions in conflict can be a lifeline."-Clark McCauley, Director, Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict University of Pennsylvania
"More than most books on emotions, Evelin Lindner's is both broad and passionate. It is a very strong and persuasive advocate for human dignity for all people, and not only well-grounded in science, but also in the highest moral values. It helps the reader to transform destructive conflict, and dignify his or her personal experiences."-Morton Deutsch, E.L. Thorndike Professor Emeritus and Director Emeritus, International Center of Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Author Bio

Evelin Lindner is a transdisciplinary social scientist, covering the entire range from neuroscience to political science and philosophy.