Emotion in practice: the cultural work of emotion in science communication

This article examines how professional science communicators make sense of emotion in their work. Drawing on a constructionist perspective and reflexive thematic analysis of 22 interviews with practitioners, it analyses how emotion is legitimised, enacted, and negotiated as part of science communication practice. Rather than treating emotion as a psychological response or persuasive tool, the study approaches it as a socially situated practice shaped by cultural norms, institutional settings, and professional role expectations. The analysis identifies six themes across three dimensions: how communicators justify emotional engagement through evolutionary and professional framings; how they enact emotional practice through strategic calibration, narrative engagement, and collective embodiment; and how they navigate cultural mandates that define acceptable emotional expression. The findings show that emotion is not simply used instrumentally, but made meaningful through ongoing work of legitimation, judgement, and negotiation within particular contexts, roles, and relationships. Understanding how emotion is legitimised, enacted, and constrained is therefore central to understanding what science communication is in professional practice.