The Sociology of Emotional Labor

ANRV381-SO35-08 ARI 1 June 2009 18:6 The Sociology of Emotional Labor Amy S. Wharton Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Vancouver, Washington 98686; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2009. 35:147–65 Key Words First published online as a Review in Advance on emotion management, work, service, interaction, jobs, customers April 2, 2009 The Annual Review of Sociology is online at Abstract soc.annualreviews.org Emotional labor refers to the process by which workers are expected to This article’s doi: manage their feelings in accordance with organizationally defined rules 10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115944 and guidelines. Hochschild’s (1983) The Managed Heart introduced this Copyright c 2009 by Annual Reviews. concept and inspired an outpouring of research on this topic. This article Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2009.35:147-165. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org All rights reserved reviews theory and research on emotional labor with a particular focus 0360-0572/09/0811-0147$20.00 on its contributions to sociological understandings of workers and jobs. The sociological literature on emotional labor can be roughly divided Access provided by Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Iztapalapa on 09/27/16. For personal use only. into two major streams of research. These include studies of interactive work and research directly focused on emotions and their management by workers. The first uses emotional labor as a vehicle to understand the organization, structure, and social relations of service jobs, while the second focuses on individuals’ efforts to express and regulate emotion and the consequences of those efforts. The concept of emotional labor has motivated a tremendous amount of research, but it has been much less helpful in providing theoretical guidance for or integration of the results generated by these bodies of work. 147 ANRV381-SO35-08 ARI 1 June 2009 18:6 During the past few decades, the study of emo- literatures focuses less on the degree of support tions has become increasingly central to so- they provide for Hochschild’s initial formu- ciology. It is now a field of study in its own lations of this concept than on researchers’ right, and a range of sociological specializa- efforts to put the concept of emotional labor tions have incorporated the study of emotion to sociological use. Although some of the re- into their theories and research agendas (Stets search examined here has implications for the & Turner 2007). Although sociological interest sociological study of emotions more generally in emotion takes a variety of forms, a fundamen- (see Lively 2007 and Thoits 1989 for reviews of tal concern is understanding how emotions are the sociology of emotions), or for the study of regulated by culture and social structure and emotion in organizations (e.g., Ashkanasy et al. how emotional regulation affects individuals, 2000, Panayiotou 2006, Smollan 2006, Briner groups, and organizations. 2005, Fineman 1996, Van Maanen & Kunda Sociologists of work and organizations have 1989), my primary aim is to examine how been especially engaged with these issues. They research on emotional labor has informed soci- have had a long-standing interest in people’s ological understandings of workers and work. emotional reactions to their jobs, and the publication of Hochschild’s (1983) The Managed EMOTIONAL LABOR IN THE Heart provided researchers with a new vantage point from which to understand emotion in the MANAGED HEART workplace. As part of her case for a “social the- The Managed Heart contributed to two key ory of emotion,” Hochschild argues that emo- streams of theory and research. The first in- tions not only are shaped by broad cultural and volves Hochschild’s efforts to understand the societal norms, but also are increasingly reg- social foundations of emotion and her interest ulated by employers with an eye on the bot- in redirecting sociological attention to this is- tom line. She introduces the concept of emo- sue. A second is the American economy’s trans- tional labor to describe the process by which formation from one organized around the pro- workers are expected to manage their feelings duction of goods to one based on the delivery of in accordance with employer-defined rules and services and a need to make sense of the nature guidelines. The Managed Heart inspired an ex- and consequences of work in a service society. plosion of research on emotion in the work- The themes came together in the concept of place, and it continues to serve as an impor- emotional labor. Virtually every current study tant touchstone for this literature. The concept of emotional labor positions itself in relation to of emotional labor, in particular, has resonated one or more of the book’s claims. It is thus im- with sociologists of work as well as researchers portant to outline some of the key themes in in management, psychology, communications, this work. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2009.35:147-165. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org nursing and health, leisure and hospitality, and Publication of The Managed Heart occurred many other fields (Briner 2004). as the concept of emotion was penetrating the In this review, I survey theory and research sociological literature through a variety of path- Access provided by Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Iztapalapa on 09/27/16. For personal use only. on emotional labor, paying particular attention ways (e.g., Franks 1985, Gordon 1981, Kemper to work by sociologists or work with strong so- 1978, Shott 1979). Hochschild’s particular con- ciological implications. After briefly describing tribution to this literature includes the idea of the concept of emotional labor as originally emotion management (or emotion work), a ref- formulated in The Managed Heart, I discuss two erence to how people actively shape and di- broad thematic areas of research that account rect their feelings, and a recognition that social for most of the literature on this topic. These in- structure and institutions impose constraints on clude studies of interactive work and individual- these efforts. Hochschild uses the term “feel- level research on expressed emotions and ing rules” to describe societal norms about the emotion management. My discussion of these appropriate type and amount of feeling that 148 Wharton ANRV381-SO35-08 ARI 1 June 2009 18:6 should be experienced in a particular situation. her exploration of emotional labor in a service Emotion management occurs as people work economy, and she suggests that jobs requiring to accommodate these norms. This work in- emotional labor are much more likely to be volves attempts to align privately felt emotions performed by women than by men. This with normative expectations or to bring the out- association in part reflects deep-rooted stereo- ward expression of emotion in line with them. types about which gender is best suited for Hochschild (1983) refers to the first process as particular kinds of jobs. The form of emotional “deep acting” and the second as “surface act- labor most common in the jobs Hochschild ing,” aiming to convey the fact that the first discusses involves creating in others feelings involves an attempt to change what is privately of well-being or affirmation, responsibilities felt, while the second focuses on what is publicly typically assigned to women. Gender also displayed. enters into Hochschild’s argument about how For Hochschild (1983), however, social pro- workers perform emotional labor and the ways cesses not only are implicated in the managing in which gender shapes the social interactions of emotion, but also are fundamental to emo- between worker and customer that it entails. tion itself. Although emotions function as sig- Hochschild (1983) argues that women’s higher nals for understanding an experience or situa- representation in jobs requiring deference—in tion, these signals are filtered through people’s the form of niceness, sociability, and the like— expectations about themselves and the world. coupled with their lower overall social status, As a result, Hochschild argues, “when we do gives women a weaker “status shield” against not feel emotion, or disclaim an emotion, we others’ negative emotions than men have. lose touch with how we actually link inner to One theme of the book that generated the outer reality” (Hochschild 1983, p. 223). most attention from later researchers con- The nature of work in a service society rep- cerns the possible consequences of emotional resents another important theme of The Man- labor for workers. Drawing analogies with aged Heart. Emotion management is essentially alienation as described by Marx and with a private act, influenced by broad cultural and the psychological concept of cognitive disso- social norms about what is appropriate to feel nance, Hochschild (1983, p. 90) suggests that and express, but not directly regulated by other performance of emotional labor threatens to people or organizations. Emotional labor, by produce what she calls “emotive dissonance.” contrast, is Hochschild’s term for this process Workers who are required to display emotions when it moves from the private realm to the regardless of whether these are congruent with public world of work. She defines emotional their feelings may over time develop a sense of labor as “the management of feeling to cre- self-estrangement or distress. More generally, ate a publicly observable facial and bodily dis- because of the deep connection between Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2009.35:147-165. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org play,” calling attention to how people manage emotion and the self, Hochschild suggests their own feelings as a way to create a particular that those who perform emotional labor are emotional state in another person (Hochschild susceptible to a range of identity-related Access provided by Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Iztapalapa on 09/27/16. For personal use only. 1983, p. 7). Hochschild sees emotional labor issues that impinge upon their psychological as increasingly relevant, given the particular well-being.

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