This study takes a social capital perspective in investigating the role of emotions in family firms. The aim of the paper is to explore the emotions expressed and/or pronounced in the family business systems and how emotions are shaped and shape family business practices, such as composition of top management teams and boards, division of ownership, tasks and responsibilities. By applying the social capital perspective to studying emotions in family firms we focus on how a potentially dominant group (i.e. the family) through their emotional experiences may shape family business practices. The paper contributes to the theory of social capital as it introduces emotions as a crucial source of social capital. The paper also contributes to the family business literature as it shows how emotions shape (and are shaped by) the decisions and choices made in the business and ownership spheres.