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FACING RACISM AT 30,000 FEET: AFRICAN AMERICAN PILOTS, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, AND EMOTIONAL LABOR A Dissertation by LOUWANDA EVANS Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2012 Major Subject: Sociology Facing Racism at 30,000 Feet: African American Pilots, Flight Attendants, and Emotional Labor Copyright 2012 Louwanda Evans FACING RACISM AT 30,000 FEET: AFRICAN AMERICAN PILOTS, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, AND EMOTIONAL LABOR A Dissertation by LOUWANDA EVANS Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Joe R. Feagin Committee Members, Sarah Gatson Wendy Leo Moore William A. McIntosh Head of Department, Jane Sell May 2012 Major Subject: Sociology iii ABSTRACT Facing Racism at 30,000 Feet: African American Pilots, Flight Attendants, and Emotional Labor. (May 2012) Louwanda Evans, B.A., University of Texas at Arlington; M.A., University of Texas at Arlington Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Joe R. Feagin In this qualitative study, I examine the experiences of African American pilots and flight attendants with emotional labor. Integral to existing theories of emotional labor is the incorporation of voices of color and their contemporary movement into professional industries. Essentially, most all theories of emotional labor were built through the examination of low-wage service workers in gendered or racially segregated occupations, with only recent incorporations of gendered occupations within professional settings. Using the theoretical concept of emotional labor, or the labor required to reduce or suppress feeling in order to sustain the outward countenance that produces the proper state of mind in others, I argue that emotional labor is much more than labor produced within the confines of a job, but is also based on identity characteristics that directly influence interactions in the workplace. Therefore, I qualitatively examine, through in-depth interviews with more than thirty African American flight crewmembers, how emotional labor is influenced and performed when people of color are introduced to professional settings. iv The results of this study show that there are multiple dimensions of emotional labor that should be added to existing theory. Primarily, existing standards of emotional labor in the airline industry are a direct result of institutional structures and cultures created during a period of systematic exclusion that do not account for contemporary racism and sexism. Thus, performing emotional labor in this industry is unequally placed on those white women and people of color that had no input into its creation. The results of this study suggest that emotional labor should be inclusive of systemic racism perspectives as a method of understanding how salient identity characteristics, such as gender, race, and class, are directly connected to preconceived ideologies that influence interactions that call for emotional labor. Moreover, because African American men and women in this industry are underrepresented, emotional labor becomes a necessity in their interactions with coworkers, consumers, and management. In addition, African Americans experience highly regulated emotional labor that influence how they perform their jobs, interact with others, and formulate appropriate counter-narratives. v DEDICATION To Norma Williams, a great scholar that planted and watered a tremendous seed of ambition and knowledge vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have tremendous gratitude to my committee chair and mentor, Dr. Joe Feagin for kindly taking me on as a Master’s student while at the University of Texas at Arlington. Joe, you have truly encouraged me in innumerable ways and have taught me that it is okay to believe in my work and myself. For this Joe, I am most grateful. Dr. Sarah Gatson, I cannot thank you enough for your deep intelligence and guidance throughout this project. Dr. Alex McIntosh, your kind words and encouragement were always right on time. Dr. Wendy Moore, a mentor and great friend, words cannot express how thankful I am to you. Thank you for your deep understanding and your ability to meet me on many levels. Finally, though no longer with us, I want to thank Dr. Howard Kaplan for keeping me on my “toes” through encouraging me to see a multitude of perspectives in my work. Thanks to my many friends and colleagues in the Department of Sociology that are too numerous to name. You have made my experience at Texas A&M meaningful and I could not have done it without your great support. Specifically, I want to thank Veeda Williams, Ruth Thompson-Miller, and Candice Hill for always finding the time to discuss (and escape) academic life. I am especially indebted to Dr. Jane Sell for always finding ways to support me. I have not met many people as gentle, kind, and understanding. To Christi Ramirez—I do not know how you do it, but you always seem to know how to make everything all right. I thank you for your professional help and for vii your great friendship. For Dr. Rogelio Saenz, thank you for the much needed push when I did not think I could go on. I could not have done this without a great and supportive family. Mom (Linda Mathis), Stan, Alaina (and Bob), and Phil, you are the people that truly know the huge significance of this accomplishment and how far we have come. Mom, I thank you for always encouraging me to dream, even when it was implied that “folks like us shouldn’t dream.” Stan, I thank you for knowing when to ask, “is everything ok” and knowing when to step in to make sure that all is well. I am very happy you are a part of our lives. To my sister, Alaina, you always know what to say, even if I do not want to hear it. Our daily conversations keep me sane. For my nephews and nieces, I love you guys! To my dearest friends, Elizabeth Guillot-Jones and Akeele Johnson, you two mean the world to me and I thank you for being beacons of light when I have felt lost. Thank you for always reminding me to keep strong in my faith. Finally, I send a heartfelt thanks to the numerous pilots and flight attendants participating in this project. All of you stepped in, gave me literature, and “schooled” me on the industry. You are brave men and women that I admire deeply—you are my heroes. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Importance of Studying African Americans and Emotional Labor. 2 Current State of the Research on Emotional Labor ......................... 8 Reframing the Research .................................................................. 11 Methodological Approach to the Current Study.............................. 12 Outline of Remaining Chapters ....................................................... 15 II LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 17 Hochschild’s Theory of Emotional Labor ........................................ 17 Gender and Emotional Labor ........................................................... 23 Race and Emotional Labor ............................................................... 28 Systemic Racism .............................................................................. 34 The White Racial Frame ................................................................... 36 Other Theoretical Contributions ....................................................... 38 Coping, Countering, and Resistance ................................................ 43 Summary and Introduction to Research Questions........................... 44 III METHODOLOGY ............................................................................... 46 Justification for Research Methodology ......................................... 47 The Extended Case Method and Sampling Design ........................ 50 Participants and Sampling .............................................................. 51 Data Collection ............................................................................... 53 Limitations of Current Study .......................................................... 56 Chapter Summary ........................................................................... 58 IV TRAPPED AT 30,000 FEET ............................................................... 60 In Confined Spaces: African Americans on the Flight Deck ......... 62 Race as a Dimension of Emotional Labor ...................................... 63 More than Just a “Look” ................................................................. 66 Increased Hypervisibility: the Politics of Navigating White Space 71 The Emotions of Invisibility ........................................................... 76 For Whites Only ............................................................................. 81 ix Page CHAPTER Early Accounts of White Normativity ............................................ 83 Don’t Close the Boarding Door!: Moving Beyond Perception ...... 94 Why are you Here?: Affirmative Action and Empty Kitchens....... 100 Discussions of the Racialized and Gendered “Other” .................... 103 Gender, Race, and Class in the Flight Deck ................................... 106 Chapter Summary ........................................................................... 114 V FLIGHT ATTENDANTS .................................................................... 117 Colored “Girls,”