Emotional Labor
Human relations often become complicated when emotions are involved. The definitions of selfishness and selflessness come into play when an individual has to choose between their emotions and other people’s feelings. Emotional labor has, however, become a trending aspect on various platforms. People give different definitions of emotional labor with some painting a negative picture on the same, while others believe that emotional labor is a measure of selflessness. Emotional labor appears to be replacing the universal aspect of feeling emotions. Besides, different fields expose people to emotional labor due to the circumstances in such areas. For example, the employment sector has been viewed as a leading sector in terms of promoting emotional labor. Employees are expected to suppress their emotions to complete their duties without conflicting interests. Work alienation may be a consequence of emotional labor where employees feel exploited by their employees. Also, making-out in an environment with emotional labor may not be an easy task. Emotional labor comes into play when an individual is forced by circumstances to suppress their emotions to ensure a proper state of mind for other people.
Hochschild gave the theory of emotional labor more light concerning employees. Employees in fields such as flight service and hotel management are always victims of emotional labor. The duties carried out by flight attendants, and hotel attendants require employees to be jovial and sometimes nasty. The emotions of employees are not allowed in the places of work since employers and customers expect the attendants always to be affable (Essays, 2018). Also, cashiers are another group of individuals who are forced to keep a smile regardless of the emotions they might have. For example, visiting a bank counter served by one cashier severally may leave one wondering whether the cashier is always happy. The passions carried by such employees are only realized after digging deep, for example, holding personal conversations with the cashiers. Therefore, a higher chance exists that employees are not happy all the time but have to suppress their emotions most of the time. Generally, employers are victims of emotional labor, and the immediate reaction may be alienation from work.
Reaction to emotional labor is not always straight forward, and employees may shy off from reacting for a long time. The most used approach to acting towards emotional labor is work alienation. Participants of emotional labor have a higher possibility of becoming alienated from their duties. However, the decision to fight emotional labor is made as to the last option. According to Hochschild (2007), employees in capitalist settings may have difficulties in choosing to fight emotional labor. For example, the main reason why employees participate in emotional labor is the promise of payment at the end of a certain period. Alienation in the workplace becomes more visible as the employee becomes unable to sacrifice their emotions for the benefit of others. Besides, workers are subject to giving up after realizing that their personal development is more important than the work they are doing. Therefore, continued participation in emotional labor eventually leads to work alienation.
The gap that exists between real feelings and the acted feelings becomes significant with time. In the fourth chapter of the book, Private Life, the bride tries to hide her real emotions to save the marriage. Also, the bride knows that an attempt to show her emotions may expose her to pain from the rejection that she would suffer later. However, the damage caused by emotional labor is more than the pain that might be felt for a short time. Individuals should always aim at fighting emotional labor before the consequences are felt. Also, employees should leave a chance for employees to express their emotions to avoid the problem of losing employees to alienation. Generally, isolation from work is a consequence of emotional labor at the expense of individual emotions.
Emotional labor may be the only option in most occasions. Making-out in a work setting with emotional labor depends on the circumstances at hand. For example, emotional labor may be the way through a discriminative employer, or nagging workmates. Therefore, emotional labor can be used towards one’s advantage where no other option is available. For example, members of the LGBTQ group or people of color may be forced to put a fake smile every day at work. The advantage of emotional labor in some situations goes beyond maintaining the pay from the job done. Also, unnecessary conflicts are avoided where individuals decide to fake happiness. However, individuals need to be careful as to not overstrain in a bid to avoid conflicts. Besides, some time may be set aside for personal reflection on one’s real emotions. Moreover, individuals may choose to have a circle of trusted friends who can help in keeping the emotional labor task possible. Generally, emotional labor becomes less tedious where the burden is shared among caring individuals.
Making out in the job is ideally motivated by the desire to be satisfied in the job setting. Emotional labor does not lead to direct boredom in work. However, if job satisfaction is affected, then a solution should be sought in dealing with emotional labor. According to Hochschild (2007), masked emotions are more likely to cause dissatisfaction in work than free emotions. Also, employees are more likely to bow down to emotional labor if some expectations are not met. For example, employees may expect increased pay or better working conditions. Whenever employees realize that the expectations are not working out, the resilience on emotional labor burns out and work dissatisfaction sets in. Therefore, committed employees always find a way of making-out emotional labor. Generally, it is possible to transform emotional labor in the job setting to work towards an individual’s advantage.
Emotional labor gives a two-way representation of individual goals. First, emotional labor may be viewed as an escape way from complications in the workplace. Second, emotional labor may be seen as a punishment for acquiring a particular job and earning a considerable salary. For example, the article on “Exploring the Managed Heart” gives a comparison of a nineteenth-century boy working in a factory and a twenty-first-century flight attendant. Both employees have a job to protect. However, most would think that the factory boy is more overwhelmed by work than the flight attendant. Unexpectedly, the two employees have a common problem. The boy is unhappy in his job and has a target to meet. The flight attendant on the other side has to fake a smile and keep the customers satisfied. Therefore, the factory boy and the flight attendant have to be detached from something to mark the completion of duties.
Emotional labor is the transformed form of emotional management used in the workplace. Before the nineteenth century, individuals used to have issues managing their emotions. Also, the sharing of emotions was not as easy as it is currently. However, the management of emotions has been transformed to become capital (Santin & Kelly, 2017). Employees are required to keep their real emotions at bay in a bid to use the needed emotions in the workplace. Also, the importance of real emotions has been overlooked with individuals been left to struggle with their emotions outside the workplace. The immediate consequence has been low job satisfaction and increased work alienation. Also, the capitalist ideologies have worked to the disadvantage of most employees who would have stood out to fight emotional labor. The fear of losing on the income-generating job has kept most employees under the captivity of emotional labor.
In sum, emotional labor comes into play when an individual is forced by circumstances to suppress their emotions to ensure a proper state of mind for other people. Work alienation may be a consequence of emotional labor where employees feel exploited by their employees. Moreover, employees in capitalist settings may have difficulties in choosing to fight emotional labor. Also, it is possible to transform emotional labor in the job setting to work towards an individual’s advantage. The fear of losing on the income-generating job has kept most employees under the captivity of emotional labor. Generally, emotional labor is a transformed form of emotional management used in the workplace.
References
Essays, UK. (November 2018). Hochschild’s Emotional Labour Theory. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/psychology/emotional-labour-put-forward-by- sociologist-arlie-hochschild-psychology-essay.php?vref=1
Hochschild, A. R. (2007). Exploring the managed heart. The emotions. A cultural reader, 83-92.
Santin, M., & Kelly, B. (2017). The managed heart revisited: Exploring the effect of institutional norms on the emotional labor of flight attendants post 9/11. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 46(5), 519-543.