Styles of Sincerity
Chapter 4 deals with whether emotions are real in the sense of “genuine,” drawing on historical and ethnographic material to discuss social processes of assessing sincerity. The way enthusiasm is performed plays a role in whether it is perceived as sincere (and thus believable), which in turns depends on emotional norms, very often unarticulated and therefore more of an aesthetic judgment. It explores the overlap between enthusiasm and sentimentalism as concepts and asks what kind of work these concepts do in discrediting actors and their convictions. Charismatics are accused of sentimentalism, enjoying the feeling of the feeling too much, whereas mainline Lutherans are viewed as “going through the motions” without any real feeling behind them. This chapter argues that these groups have different styles of sincerity, and that the conflict over whether the emotions of the “other” group are genuine allows us to see more clearly how sincerity must be analyzed as a performance, not as a state of mind. These performances are informed by both the Enlightened and Romantic ideologies in complex ways that are somewhat unexpected and inform sincere speech in contexts beyond the religious, such as TED talks and other inspirational rhetoric.