The last few decades have seen marked shifts in the global economy. While these shifts are many and varied, this essay focuses on the growth of emotional labour with a special focus on the work of Hochschild. Instances of utilizing emotional labour besides physical to satisfy the wants of the consumers have existed earlier. What has changed is its scale and importance in sectors such as hospitality and other service sectors.
The commercialization of emotional labour has been portrayed by Hochschild who draws from the Airlines industry and the demands on workers to enact set roles. “Display is what is sold” (Hochschild, 1989). However, in this instance, there is a difficult relationship between feelings and a sense of selfhood. Separation of emotion and display over a long period becomes difficult and strained. Attempts have been made to bring display and feelings closer by changing either the true feelings or by expecting the workers to fake. This in turn has led to emotional discordance that has been increasingly witnessed at work.
Intense competition in the service sector (Hochschild, 1989 is often played out by increasing demands of emotional labour on the workers. Hochschild’s study in “Feeling Management” has highlighted the plight of flight attendants who are seen to be the face of the market. They are at the closest contact with the passengers in the airlines and thus are expected to retain utter professionalism, set by a standardized set of norms and guidelines. Indeed there are specific sections under the interview guidelines for flight attendants which set criteria for appearance, smile, and mannerisms. Different airline companies set various bars on sociability. Their criteria however exclude busty women, (Hochschild, 1989). Vulgar comments and flirting form a part of such activities to which the flight attendants should be calm, bearing upon the set pattern of nature, thinking it as a part of their duty as most passengers were male.
The constant practice of masking emotions has been believed to give rise to genuine empathy, by making workers view customers as family or friends, and naturally protecting them from dangers, ridicule, or other adverse situations. This professional practice may become a habit to please people. “So, if you’re faking being happy, the authentic feeling of being unhappy is exacerbated,” Lennard said.
According to Hochschild, every emotion management agenda holds an underlying profit motive. However, the increased standardization also leads to deskilling of labour. Competition, market expansion, advertisement, heightened passenger expectations, and demand to play-act a scripted role has subjected employees within each company to develop an aspect of emotional connection, fostered by corporate logic. Rules, surface acting, and deep acting then tend to get rooted in the behavioural aspects of the person, arranged and channelized in different ways. This has been referred to as the actor’s use of private memory, with private use giving way to corporate use (Hochschild, 1989). This continuous act affects the growth and transformation of the industries and their sectors. Worked-up warmth of feeling is replaced by put-on smiles (Hochschild, 1989).
Assistant professor of management from Spears School of Business, Anna Lennard in the study centred around emotional regulation or controlling emotions at the workplace claimed that “Surface acting arises because there are emotional demands in the workplace”. Negative ramifications of surface acting like emotional exhaustion can affect work and spill over into one’s home life.
Hochschild highlights how airline companies compete by offering more frequent fights, more seats, faster flights, fewer stops, and most importantly better services. The training provided for the role attempts to instil acceptance of the company’s claims, and the imagery of a family is seen to be provided for the smooth execution of the training, allowing trainers to handle the new trainees and making them feel less homesick.
The agenda of commercialization of emotions could be linked to a stimulus for the tag “people pleaser”. “People pleasing” attitude can bear a number of signs which significantly include being unable to say no, feeling anxious about others’ opinions or judgments, difficulties in having time for oneself and setting boundaries, being agreeable, and diminished self-esteem (J. Legg, 2019). With constant masking of emotions and the imposed practice of empathizing with the customers, having to put aside one’s natural feelings, a chain of suppressed emotions often may find no way out. This creates a vicious cycle whereby the workers can become constant victims of low self-esteem.
Moving forward with the example of flight attendants, as provided by Hochschild, the act of surface acting or alteration of outward expression is seen in diverse fields today, extending from customer services to crucial office meetings. Hochschild suggests that there are two ways to categorize how emotional labour could be handled – surface acting and deep acting. While the former involves an alteration of outward expression, stating appropriate statements, while keeping the inner or natural feelings intact, the latter is an attempt to change the natural feelings and get involved with what the other person states (Levy, 2018). The former is assumed to take a greater toll on one’s emotional and mental health in the long run. A prolonged period of ignorance of one’s emotions for the sake of employment might often push people to a web of alienation from their feelings.
While a market for emotional labour or a sale of emotional labour takes a crucial role in the corporate sector, often the management, advertising personnel, as well as supervisors bring in terms suitable to the ears, and consider non-violating to the ethical code of the organization and the employees, as seen in the example of airlines industry (Hochschild, 1989). Flight attendants are expected to use ‘professional service’ and portray a positive attitude at work, even while handling enraged customers. The aim is to generate profit for the organization, which could be met through the use of emotional labour, which helps ensure customer satisfaction. This is evident from the nature of job expectations associated with certain roles, specifically tied to sales, logistics, or supply chain management.
References:
- Hochschild, A. (1989). Managed Heart: Commercialization of human Feelings, 3(3), DOI: 10.1002/pam.4050030365
- Faking emotions at work: the positive and negative side of workplace acting. (2019). Oklahoma State University. https://news.okstate.edu/articles/business/2019/fakingemotionsatwork.html
- How to Stop People-Pleasing (and Still Be Nice). (2019). https://www.healthline.com/health/people-pleaser
- Levy, K. (2018). How faking your feelings at work can be damaging.https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180619-why-suppressing-anger-at-work-is-bad
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Shangamitra Chakraborty is a MA student in Sociology at Queen’s University. She is interested in policy research, disability studies and issues concerning women.