SOC344 2020 Tut6 – Friday 12.30pm

As a hospitality worker I completely understand what it is like to do ‘emotion work’ (Hochschild) and having to manage my emotions by leaving anything outside of work behind and putting a smile on as soon as I step into my workplace. I understand the term ‘emotional labour’ as it can often be laborious and exhausting to force emotions you aren’t naturally feeling at the time, especially for a full day of work. As a female I do find there are some differences in the way we must respond and sometimes I find it hard to know when it is acceptable to cross the line and allow my emotions to be felt. With this I am talking about harassment within the workplace with customers, and I have experienced times I have been called names or slightly touched places that make me feel uncomfortable but I feel I am expected to manage my emotions and continue smiling as the ‘customer is always right’. There have been times, however, that I wondered if it would have been acceptable to me to speak out and tell off the customer, and whether my bosses would have understood and applauded my actions or if I could have risked my job. How do we know the line between what is and isn’t acceptable when managing emotions in the workplace? Should employers have those conversations with their employees about managing emotions and setting expectations that make both the employer and employee comfortable? #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

I have worked in various positions, which have required me to engage in “emotion work” (Hochschild 1979, p. 561) where I have had to make a concerted effort to appear to feel a certain way. One key example that sticks out is during my time as a bar tender working at a nightclub. My shift normally started at 10 or 11pm and although I would feel tired, I was expected to smile, look happy and exude a level of high energy. Although there were times I attempted to look happy and energetic, my true feelings would push through via facial expressions of being disinterested or serious. Patrons would point this out by saying things such as “smile love, its not that bad”. Interestingly, my male colleagues would never receive the same feedback if they appeared to feel the same way that I did. I have also engaged in philanthropic emotion management as described in McKenzie et al. (2019, p. 680). Working in retail and customer service roles, there were times when my colleagues wouldn’t feel up to engaging in “emotion work”. I would often speak to a customer or handle a phone query on their behalf to alleviate the “emotional labour” our workplace required of us. I feel similarly to Mai in that I believe that being female and the gender structures I had been conditioned to play a huge part in the “emotion work” and “emotional labour” I engaged with. As I have gotten older and become more critical of societal structures, I don’t feel as pressured to act accordingly. If society were more informed and aware of the mechanisms of emotion work and emotional labour in workplaces, would we see a more concerted effort by employers to provide appropriate forms of support and remuneration? #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

Gender has an enormous role in the way I personally regulate my emotions whether it is in the workplace or other areas of my life. Never wanting to be perceived as “angry” or “bossy” means that I display happy or positive emotions even if something has bothered me or if I have a problem. This is reflected similarly in men through stereotypes surrounding masculinity and the way in which they manage their emotions. Hochschild’s theory of feeling rules indicates that different situations observe different emotions, overall, we are governed by a “sense of what we should feel in that situation” (Hochschild, 1979 p. 564). There are certain times or circumstances that should be met with regulated emotions however this should not be the case for everyday life. We should not always feel happy or always feel sad, there are a wide range of emotions that should be felt and should not always be regulated to suit the feeling rules or situation. From the other responses it is clear that employees in the service industry feel an obligation to appear smiley and happy all the time in order to please customers and as Yasmyn said “mentally focus on conjuring up desired feelings” that they do not have. I think overall everybody can relate to managing their emotions either in the workplace or in other settings, everybody manages their emotions in different ways, this can be both in a positive or a negative way but it is often determined by the social situation they are presented with. #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

I find this topic very interesting as yesterday I accounted two extremely rude patrons who made me feel awful. Yet, like continued to smile and response as politely as I could. Hochschild would interrupt this as ‘emotional labour’, where we regulate and control our emotions especially at work to appear more professional. She suggests that society has a set of ’feeling rules’ that determines how we should/should not feel in certain circumstances, thus when I am at work I must be chirpy and happy to ensure that my patron leaves satisfied despite whether they were right or wrong. Often, after work I feel emotionally drained, hence Hochschild this emotion manage to be ‘emotional labour’ as quite often it can be physically and emotionally draining. I do feel that gender does play a role in this as women are perceived to be more naturally caring, through I don’t find this true, I do see this gender difference growing up. I am the eldest of 4, and all of my younger siblings are boys. Growing up, I was always told to look after my siblings and be happy to do so as I am the eldest sister and I am a girl and I “should” enjoy it. Whereas, my brothers never had the same responsible of look after the Younger ones as “they’re boys, they don’t know how to”, indicating that they cannot be as caring or nurturing as a female. I believe with these feeling rules change according to your gender and what society believe what their gender’s role should be. #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

I'm meant to be eternally happy whilst serving customers at work and I follow the rules and I am well socialised this means managing my emotions even if berated or ridiculed because the customer is 'always' right (Hochschild, 1979). If I'm feeling offended, frustrated, embarrassed I won't let it show this in alignment with Arlie Hochschild's theory on how we manage our emotions in social situations. Hochschild theorises that by managing emotions such as mine in my workplace even when deep down I'd like to confront a rude/disrespectful customer on the odd whim I don't. This is because I am following social rules that govern social situations and I myself do submit to them. In reference to work again I see a clear change in the rules of emotional management once a shift at work has finished and me and colleagues are out having a few drinks (Hochschild, 1979).The rules go out the window and in that kind of social situation the rules become increasingly faint and emotional management is not front and centre. Generally women do most of emotional labour and emotion work because they are assumed and to be more useful in comforting by those whose feelings don't fit the social situation, in our society women are seen to be most effective to neutralise this, manage emotions (Hochschild, 1979).This based on a presumption and social rules that would say it's more appropriate to show emotion to a woman and so for women to do emotion work because they are considered to be more in touch with emotions and so more helpful and readily available not just personally but in professional situations (Hochschild, 1979). Do you find yourself jumping into different emotional states to manage your self image in different social situations? Do you find that you are more readily approached by those you know and strangers because you are more in touch and revealing in social situations with your own emotions/feelings? #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

At my work I keep my emotions managed or in check pretty much all the time, you need to otherwise you get customers saying smile or if they’re a regular they will comment noticing you’re not yourself that day but on the rare occasion you can slip, I mean we are all human right and I think you’re entitled even in customer service you’re allowed to have an off day, especially when it’s the customer that’s put you in the mood. I work at a chicken shop, two weeks ago we had a phone order, completed it then when the workers came in they asked for extra sauce on one of their burgers, so we done what was asked, probably 15 minutes later I’m in tears listening to a guy scream over the phone at me that he and his workers never asked for extra sauce and in that situation my emotion management was definitely not in place, for the rest of the day I wasn’t my usual self at work, mind you I’ve worked there for 3 and a half years and I normally keep my cool when a customer gets angry. I think, work is one of the places you would mostly keep your emotions managed, mainly because you have too but I also think people forget you’re allowed to have days like that. #S344UOW20 #Tut #Fri1230

Hochschild (1979) draws on the work of Goffman to explain how we become actors when managing outer emotional impressions. Hochschild discusses the two concepts of acting derived from the work of Goffman on acting; surface acting and deep acting. Although these has been argued by Hochschild to only be a means of managing outer impressions, I believe these two types of acting play major roles in managing emotions. Surface acting, in my personal experience in customer service, is used everyday to convey pleasant emotions for the comfort of customers. I feel as though however cliché it is, putting on positive emotional expressions is the first step to managing negative emotions at work. Deep acting comes afterwards, when individuals draw on positive emotions to manage current negative feelings. Hochschild describes this as evocation in discussion on emotion work. This is where individuals mentally focus on conjuring up desired feelings that they presently lack. I think with the current society we live in, we are expected to manage our emotions at work and therefore should be. I do find it interesting though that customer service workers are expected to manage their emotions in an almost dehumanising way, whilst customers are never expected to manage their emotions in any way.

In McKenzie et al (2019), it’s recorded that emotional intelligence has become synonymous with resilience. But further than that, it has become an individualistic perspective, and emotional management ‘implicitly transfer the responsibility of navigating late modern workplace challenges to individuals” (McKenzie et al, 2019, p.673). There is an industry created based on ‘emotional intelligence’ where self-help books, guidance courses, etc are designed and sold to make us raise our capacity to be aware and control our emotions to handle relationships judiciously by ourselves. Take ‘anger management’ and we can visualize right away a man getting himself into some trouble because he cannot suppress his frustration and has to go into some form of therapy, while the reason for his reaction is rarely discussed. I totally relate with Annabelle’s experience and her reiteration of Hochschild’s feeling rules as well when coming into work, especially since I work in customer service, I feel a personal burden to be smiley and welcoming towards others all the time. I have learnt through ‘societal rules’ to identify myself as a young female, and thus to impose on myself the appropriate feelings I should have in certain situations as such young female. There is, then, definite differences of emotion management in gender since each gender has to put on a different type of mask, but how about class? Do all social class deal with emotion management the same way? What does that say about the relationship between emotion and social structure? #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

Hochschild conceptualised emotional labour to be the process of managing emotional expressions and feelings to meet the commercially required emotions for a job, effectively acting in way that ensures the entity that you work for can achieve its interests. Working as a jumping castle attendant requires that I have manage my emotions and outwardly display a positive attitude regardless of how I am actually feeling, as well as manage the emotions of the individuals using the jumping castle to make sure that everyone is having a good and safe experience. Additionally, I find that I have to manage my emotions carefully so that I respond to situations and scenarios in a manner that is considered both appropriate by my employers but also by the communities that surround me at the time. For example, whenever I feel frustration at a situation I find myself in, I need to outwardly respond positively otherwise the people around me at the time will see my negative emotional reaction and in turn have negative emotional responses to it, which consequently can lead to the company I work for to receive negative feedback or reviews that are detrimental to their business. This aligns with Hochschild’s description of ‘feelings rules’, which determines how we can act and feel in social situations. Whilst I also agree that women often do more emotional labour than men, I don’t often see this at my workplace which is male dominated and as such, I often see men doing the bulk of emotional labour. Has there ever been a situation where you weren’t able to manage your emotions at work? If so, how did the people around you and your workplace react?

Working in retail we have to manage our emotions, if a customer is rude we keep a smile on our face because we want that person to buy our products and make a sale. We do have some 15 year olds that work in our store, and they make it quite obvious when they’re not in a good mood, putting it down to maturity when managing emotions at work. Hochschild talks about feeling rules, which everyone I work with has some ideas about. We know not to cry in front of a customer, or express anger towards someone we are serving at work, we act in socially acceptable ways when we are working. Being a woman I am always assigned to help older customers and other women as I have a more emotional understanding when customers come into the store. This isn’t to say men aren’t the same, it is just in my particular job that I get positioned to help customers in what they are looking for and give them advice. #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

My work as a learn to swim instructor relies heavily on emotional management. One of the responsibilities listed in my contract is to ‘Teach and control behaviour of students in the lesson’. Children’s behaviour stems strongly from how they are feeling, and thus part of my job requires me to manage my students emotions. In addition to this, I am constantly aware of how my emotions are affecting my work. If a child is frustrating me, I don’t show it. If I’ve had a bad day, I still act like I’m happy to be there. Interestingly, I do find that when I act in a positive manner during my classes, I leave work feeling more positive than when I arrived, suggesting that this ‘deep acting’ does influence my emotions. As Hochschild (1979, p.569) suggests, this is an “act of successful self-persuasion, of genuine feeling and frame change, a deep acting that jells, that works, that in the end is not phony”. Notably, my workplace is dominated by women. This supports Hochschild’s (1979) idea that women do more emotional labour and our feelings are becoming increasingly commercialised, often in lower paying jobs. Could a change in the gender distribution of emotion labour influence its recognition in society and possibly lead to better remuneration of this type of work? #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230

Sadness is probably one of the hardest emotions to avoid or ignore, if pain isn't felt and redeemed we suffer. Loneliness is a struggle and people can feel so alone even surrounded by family, friends and people who love and support them, why is this? Self worth and self love is a massive part to play within this. 'Nowadays you don't even see your neighbours': loneliness in the everyday lives of older Australians." Text by Stanley M1, Moyle W, Ballantyne A, Jaworski K, Corlis M, Oxlade D, Stoll A, Young B. (2010). This text explores the pressing loneliness and social isolation among older people and many of the residents involved in this study explained the importance of maintaining social connection and contact and feeling as though you "belong" somewhere or to something may be a factor within loneliness. The way in which we control our emotions still until today is effected by our age, gender and role in society how we deal with situations within a work environment is highly scrutinised for example I work at a cafe and we are always expected to smile and be polite despite the other persons behaviour towards us, I am not sure if this is do to with the fact I am a woman as I believe most individuals would be frustrated If someone was being rude towards them, the way in which I react is my dealing and all apart of customer service. #S344UOW20 #Tut6 #Fri1230