The Age of Emotion

We’re bombarded with emotions these days – in the news, in advertising.

We expect our politicians to show their emotions in order to seem authentic, and in schools and work places emotional resilience classes and emotional therapies are on the rise.

As we seem to be casting off the traditional stiff upper lip, psychotherapist Philippa Perry asks whether, in this new age of emotion, we're putting how we feel before what we think.

She goes to the country’s first, so-called positive university in Buckingham which is introducing mindfulness classes. She asks whether getting young people more in touch with their emotions is helping them deal with the challenges of life - or creating a generation of emotional snowflakes.

Philippa also explores the trend for big brands wanting big data about our emotions, and speaks to journalist Julia Raeside and historian Tiffany Watt Smith about how our emotions have changed, and the impact of the media on how we experience our own emotions.

Producer: Jo Wheeler

A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2017.