Living Entities Through the Sociological Eye of Emotions. A Research Agenda

Humanity’s entanglement with other living entities is undergoing profound ecological, ethical, and emotional transformations. While sociology has increasingly engaged with non-human animals, plants, and ecosystems, the role of emotions in these interspecies and inter-entity relations remains under-theorized. This article argues that the sociology of emotions provides crucial tools for understanding how humans categorize, value, and act upon living entities, particularly in contexts of uncertainty and moral ambiguity. Drawing on more-than-human perspectives, human–non-human animal studies, and social-ecological approaches, we focus on living entities – such as micro-organisms (bacteria, viruses) or organoids, —as a theoretical test case to examine how emotional engagements mediate “boundary-work”, shaping ethical concern, legal status, and practical engagement. We show that emotional engagements are relational, socially patterned, and contextually regulated, structuring interactions across a gradient from clearly sentient to ambiguous entities. By extending the sociology of emotions beyond human-centered analysis, this article contributes to a broader understanding of the affective, ethical, and practical dimensions of human interactions with the living world and highlights new avenues for sociological inquiry into the boundaries and hierarchies of life.