Abstract: The paper explores general social emotions in society in terms of its concept and methodology，operationalization and influencing factors. Herein，general social emotions is regarded as a relatively consistent collective expression that is dispersed among different social groups and can easily resonate and be shared. It is relatively stable beliefs，spirits and values formed on the basis of social cognition，social identity and behavioral orientation. The structure of general social emotions is mainly composed of social cognition，identity and behavioural orientation and is operated through satisfaction，social trust and social confidence，while the function of general social emotions is mainly represented by social integration and structural maintenance. General social emotions is always embedded in social structure. The duality of structure is manifested in the fact that social behaviors guided by general social emotions not only maintain but also change structure. It has a restrictive effect on human behavior and also serves as premises and conditions of behavior. The paper also discusses the research methodology of general social emotions from three aspects of comparison，micro-meso-macro connections，and deduction from individuality to collectivity. The paper emphasises that by accurate grasps of general social emotions，national governance can avoid superficiality at the micro-level and gain true insights of people’s subjective feelings. At the macro level，it can closely link individuals，the state and society，and eventually integrate and embed itself in social structure. The process of governance is the construction，deconstruction and reconstruction of such general social emotions. The effort to understand our time and society through general social emotions and use it as a policy tool for national governance has important academic research and policy inspiration value.

Key words: national governance, general social emotions, embedding, structure and function, duality of structure