The Affective Imaginary

Drawing on Kathleen Stewart's affect theory, the affective imaginary names the felt, atmospheric and pre-reflective dimension of shared meaning — the moods, intensities and ordinary affects that circulate through everyday life and bind collectivities below the level of explicit belief. It locates the social imaginary not only in significations and institutions but in the sensory, embodied textures of inhabited space, complementing the more cognitive accounts of Taylor and Anderson.