The Link between Human Emotions and Sociality in Westermarck’s Sociology

Westermarck has probably written more about emotions than almost any other sociologist or anthropologist. In this chapter, I focus on the importance of emotions in Westermarck’s writings on morality, family and marriage, and religion and magic. I begin by examining Westermarck’s theory of moral emotions, which is closely related to sympathy, emotional contagion, emotional aversion or disgust, and the customs of society. His key research topics also include the emergence and maintenance moral norms or rules. As a whole, Westermarck’s theory of morality is based on the interplay between the individual and society. In the second part of the chapter, I examine emotions in Westermarck’s work on family and marriage, including incest avoidance (the Westermarck effect) and the incest taboo. The chapter shows that Westermarck presents a detailed theory of the evolution and manifestations of emotions structuring human family formation. Finally, I discuss Westermarck’s theory of the emotional origin of religion and magic. Westermarck was very interested in anthropomorphism, the tendency to attribute human characteristics to supernatural beings and gods. In each section I compare Westermarck with Émile Durkheim, who was his main scientific rival. The chapter shows how the different parts of Westermarck’s production are linked to each other and united by an interest in combining proximate and ultimate explanations.