Affect and emotion: is there a difference and does it matter?

While prominent within the sociology of education, literatures on affect and emotion span many disciplines, resulting in divergent approaches. Generally, there is a focus on either affect or emotion, though there are those who see little distinction between the two, often using the terms interchangeably. Together with a lack of clarity as to what affect and emotion actually mean, and intellectual tussles as to their derivation, expression and significance, when associated terms such as feelings, sentiment and mood are thrown into the mix, there is even greater confusion. With reference to the work of Spinoza, Tomkins and Bourdieu, this entry engages with this complexity, arguing for the importance of conceptual clarity around affect and emotion and drawing on examples from within the field of education to examine why this distinction does, in fact, matter.