SOC344 2020 Tut7 – Monday 12.30pm

Have you ever wanted to change how you look? Not just in terms of how you dress, but how you might alter your body? Some of us undertake cosmetic surgery in order look different: younger, slimmer, tighter, bigger, weirder, more radical, more normal, less normal, a different look, a different gender.

There are many motivations for these changes. Some want to alter their bodies to feel ‘more like the person they were always meant to be’, as an expression of individuality, authenticity, and identity. This is particularly true in the case of transgender persons, though it applies to many others. A lot of people exercise and work out to make their bodies look and feel healthier, and some argue that tattoos and piercings help people express difficult individual feelings in a uniquely public way. ‘Authenticity’ is a powerful motivator.

However, the drive for change to become an ‘authentic’ self is sometimes driven by a desire to look like someone else that we admire; a friend, a celebrity, or an influencer. Admiration is an important emotional motivation, denoting comparison, identification and appreciation of another’s qualities. However, other comparison-based emotions – anxiety and envy – are also extremely relevant. Many of us feel pressure and anxiety, not just to fit in and look ‘good enough’, but to look better than others and gain status. Gordon Clanton argues that if you find yourselves “thinking the other does not deserve their good fortune or wishing that the other would lose his or her advantage or otherwise suffer, that is a measure of your envy”. Have you ever thought that someone you know has it too easy because they are just lucky enough to just be good-looking? If you told them so, would they agree, would they tell you off for being ‘too envious,’ or would they encourage you to ‘embrace your envy,’ and work harder to look better?

Sometimes the anxious push and competition to look and act ‘better’ is not driven by status, but by the need to work. As more jobs orient towards customer service, it’s not only necessary to constantly manage feelings at work – to always smile and look happybut to really look the part – dress up, dress down, dress different, dress sexy. Paul Thompson and colleagues describe how companies hire workers who embody the ‘right’ qualities to sell their products; looks, style, mannerisms, emotional expressions, even the right voice in the case of call centre operators. They call this ‘aesthetic labour’, or the ‘supply of embodied capacities and attributes possessed by workers at the point of entry into employment’ (p931). Companies increasingly prioritise aesthetic labour in recruitment, and value and demand its constant development and use on the job to sell products and promote the company’s brand. Employees in Thompson’s study report being subject to the ‘grooming standards committee’ and ‘uniform police’, intent on regulating appearance and speech, through disciplinary action if necessary, to meet the employer’s aesthetic standards. Such aesthetic labour demands are now intensified by the widespread use of customer satisfaction ratings, particularly to allocate (more, better-quality) work in gig-industries like Uber and Task Rabbit; a grumpy day could cost you your job!

This commercialisation of bodies and emotional labour is also part of a broader phenomenon of commodification of emotions in digital economies. Jan Padios calls this ‘emotional extraction’, which includes emotional labour, but also predicting “everything from consumer choices to criminal activity” from the capture, use and sale of any “information and data that can be mined as a result of isolating and examining people’s emotions or affect” (p207). Our emotional data – our likes, our preferences, and (yes) our customer satisfaction ratings – are now products we give away (for free) to super-profitable behemoths (Facebook, Amazon, Google etc).

Body modification and emotional comportment is anything but a simple, individualised choice. They are highly social and emotional, bringing us the joy of authenticity, but also the thrill of elevated social status (and the relief of lesser envy). They are conflated with status; are tightly wound up with media images and the body-industry; are intrinsic to the aesthetic labour of the service economy; and engender emotions that become commodities for extraction in the wider digital economy.

Perhaps it is time their value was recognised and paid for?

 

#S344UOW20 #Tut7 #Mon1230

Posted in SOC327 - Emotions Bodies and Society, UOW.

10 Comments on SOC344 2020 Tut7 – Monday 12.30pm

Chelsea Cryer said : Guest Report 4 years ago

I like how Roger addressed authenticity as a ‘powerful motivator’ for modifying one’s body. Individual’s seek individuality and identity, yet when presented with the opportunity to change how they look or to simply look like someone else – they jump at it. With the rise of social media, we see people obsess over and look up to “influencers”, people who use their platform to promote goods and attract followers to an unrealistic, fabricated reality. What has become increasingly prevalent is what was described in the lecture as ‘sexualised imagery’ (Drenten et al): the body is critical (conforming to prescribed standards of attractiveness and femininity), identified a continuum of ‘pornified’ self-representation from ‘soft chic’ to near complete porn. With the essence of normalisation being comparison, it is no wonder people are constantly seeking ‘more’ – because they are persistently exposed to influences that exploit emotions of admiration and envy. Aesthetic labour is also prevalent in service work, whereby employees are recruited to suit the company’s brand, ‘grooming standards’, and/or emotional display and voice (Paul Thompson), steering away from what may be natural. As Padios (2017, p. 226) states, the formula ‘work = personal fulfillment’ is not applicable to all – some are never given the opportunity to feel anything positive about their paid labour. So, are our bodies and emotions in danger of becoming rationalised instruments?

Shanice Pereira said : Guest Report 5 years ago

It can be seen through multiple sources how emotions, bodies and society interlink with each other and how they are affected. Padios (2017, p.205) gives us insight of emotional extraction within “service work, management, marketing, social media, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience”. It was able to show that overtime that we have started to become more emotional through out every aspect in our lives, meaning we need to learn how to deal with everyone’s emotions. Thompson, Warhurst and Callagan (2001) discuss the importance that interactive service work has priorities for. Within the reading, a case study is done between a call centre and retail customer service to what is important for their employees’ skill sets are, it was highlighted within both cases that technical skill was less of priority compared to aesthetic and social skills, both of the phone and in-person. This highlights the unconscious decisions that are made by society on how we think about how we look and or present ourselves. (65) Reference Padios, JM 2017, ‘Mining the mind: emotional extraction, productivity, and predictability in the twenty-first century’, Cultural Studies, vol. 31, no. 2/3, pp. 205–231. Thompson, P, Warhurst, C & Callaghan, G 2001, ‘Ignorant Theory and Knowledgeable Workers: Interrogating the Connections between Knowledge, Skills and Services’, Journal of Management Studies (Wiley-Blackwell), vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 923–942.

Amber Jones said : Guest Report 5 years ago

Podias (2017) found that emotional extraction requires the use of emotional knowledge, or theories of emotions in order to make conclusions or predictions about human behaviour. The goal for emotional extraction is to allow individuals the opportunity of achieving personal and professional success as well as developing strong leadership skills. An example of emotional extraction that Podias uses within this paper is the service industry, more specifically, the call centres in the Philippines. It is here where the emotions and affective states of employees are extracted in order to achieve customer satisfaction. These employees are put through training to learn the necessary techniques that will allow them to emphasise, relate to and address any concerns that the customer may have. Emotional extraction comes into play when the employee is able to identify the problems and feelings the caller may have and choose the appropriate phrases, tone of voice and listening techniques that will allow them to relate to the customer. Podias states that as Filipinos are naturally caring people, they are able to take to this role, and similar roles, quite easily.

James Strachan said : Guest Report 5 years ago

Padios states that emotional extraction can serve a powerful purpose to companies to enhance their productivity and predictability for the purpose of gaining capital, it leaves an ethical question mark regarding its side effects such as surveillance and control from who they gather data (2017, p.208). It is further explained of the emotional extraction is being used in places like call centres where operators are expected if not forced to undertake emotional labour to achieve 'customer satisfaction'. Padios specifically zooms in on call centres in the Philippines where employees are taught specific techniques to identify customer problems and then extract this through specific language that is empathetic and understanding even though the employee has no idea about the said customers concerns (2017, p. 212). furthermore gender and race are incorporated into these call centre operations through the almost stereotype image that "Filipinos are naturally caring people and therefore well suited to the service labour that they perform not only as customer service call centre agents, but as domestic workers and nurses all over the world" (2017, p.213). Technology has also been created or modified to identify emotions through online media platforms such as social media. One example is Facebook which has emojis that can be used to express an emotion on posts. Also this platform has introduced a "care" emoji in the last month as a response to the COVID 19 pandemic as a way of marketing toward their members.

Stephanie Moore said : Guest Report 5 years ago

As Padios (2017) outlines in ‘Mining the mind: emotional extraction productivity and predicibility in the 21st century’, “emotions are collected for the purpose of drawing conclusions or making predictions about things such as consumer behaviour or criminal activity”. In the fast paced technologically advance society that we currently live in, this is particularly evident with the collection of personal data that occurs with or without our conscious knowledge/consent for the purpose of marketing and research. Algorithms, cookies, phone listening, location and other forms of online tracking mediums, trace and commoditise our every online move. Even during times of COVID-19 has the conglomerate Facebook introduced the ‘care’ button for users as an ‘additional’ emotion they can display. Seemingly harmless, this button along with the other emotions (emoji’s) available are trackable and useable data to target products, services and advertisements to the user. Also, to identify areas that are trending. Emotional extraction is evident in this form of surveillance and is being used to draw conclusions about users activity and predict what next for the user. What level or awareness and consent should society provide for emotional extraction?

Hayley Kruger said : Guest Report 5 years ago

To quote the words of Williams (1997), “bodies are becoming increasingly plastic”. The advancement in medical science and technology in late modernity is both a blessing and a curse. We now have the freedom and the choice to modify our bodies into appearing ‘how we feel we should look’, however our feelings of insecurity are being exploited not only through society and what it deems beautiful but workplaces and what they deem acceptable in terms of ‘grooming standards’ (Thompson, Warhurst & Callaghan, 2001). According to Thompson et al. (2001), among the customer service sector, ‘aesthetic labour’ is becoming increasingly common. Such organisations tend to hire individuals with aesthetically pleasing dispositions in order to attract more clients to the company (Thompson et al., 2001). Employees are always “on display” to cater to the customer’s experience (Thompson et al., 2001). Think about businesses such as Abercrombie & Finch and Hooters, corporations that in the hopes of generating more sales revenue, employee aesthetically pleasing staff. Or even at your local café or restaurant, staff are expected to look a certain way and always, always smile and are trained to speak in a certain tone of voice even whilst dealing with customer disputes. These emotional extraction processes such employees have to undertake both socially and culturally driven (Padios, 2017). In this case the process of emotional extraction refers to the transfer and spread of human emotion in the public domain for the purpose of producing profit (Padios, 2017). In other words, emotions are commodified for the purpose of capital gain.

Jade Ryan said : Guest Report 5 years ago

As the act of emotional extraction requires the dissemination and extension of emotions from one locus where the emotions are concentrated to another, this necessitates extensive emotional knowledge or ‘intelligence’ to perform. Emotional extraction has become key to workplace productivity within post-industrial capitalism where individuals’ social capacities and personalities are packaged parallel with the products being sold (Padios 2017, p.210). To ensure such emotional knowledge companies have implemented development tools to modify employees’ emotions with the goal of satisfying the specific emotional desires of consumers requiring emotional exertion and alterations to maintain employment (Padios 2017). The management of social skills, competencies and displays of appropriate emotions are critical within modern workplaces such as call centres and the airline industry. As industries require both the ‘right look’ and emotions to gain entry, this solidifies the process of aesthetic labour which changes the bodies of employees, usually women, inside and outside the workplace through sanctioned hair styles, body size and appropriate makeup. As certain bodies are preferred in the recruitment process aesthetic labour this can lead to the formation of envy for those who cannot meet such requirements toward those who can (Thompson et al. 2001). The value of emotional extraction should be recognised within the workplace as this not only requires emotional knowledge but an intensive alteration of one’s appearance of emotions. Have you ever experienced the emotion of envy toward someone for possessing an aesthetic you have wanted?

Azrun Paulson said : Guest Report 5 years ago

Body modifications are done freely and by choice as they provide a platform for body autonomy and can be a resistance to modern gender roles or expected behaviours (Strohecker 2011). This differs from emotional extraction as this is down unwillingly and can be controlled by the workplaces or by information services (Padios 2017). Recognition and value should be awarded to individuals who do emotional labour and are subject to emotional extraction as this can be quite exhausting. As Marquis et al. (2018) states, companies now exhibit power through media, with this increasing the emotional labour employees in services such as the gig industry are expected to perform. Body modifications and emotional extraction show the autonomy and unwillingness, respectively, that our bodies can be subject to. However, what does the extraction of emotions look like with changed working conditions of working from home during COVID-19? Reference List Marquis, E, Sangmi, K, ALahmad, R, Pierce, C & Robert, L 2018, ‘Impacts of perceived behavior control and emotional labor on gig workers’, in Proceedings of the 21st ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperatice Work and Social Computing Companion (CSCW 2018), Jersey City, New Jersey, 11 March, viewed 4 May 2020, . Padios, JM 2017, ‘Mining the mind: Emotional extraction, productivity, and predictability in the twenty-first century’, Cultural Studies, vol. 31, no. 2-3, pp. 205-231. Strohecker, DP 2011, ‘Body modification, gender, and self-empowerment’, The Society Pages, weblog post, 22 September, viewed 4 May 2020, .

Nasreen Heydari said : Guest Report 5 years ago

The words “Mining the Mind: Emotional Extraction” grab our attention, warning us we ourselves, body and mind, are commodities in C21 capitalist society. Padios presents a powerful critique of “racialized and gendered emotional extraction primarily in the areas of work and technology, but also security and surveillance” (2017, p210). The author discusses the role played by emotional labour in the service industry and also conventional offices and corporates. Concepts such as “emotional agility”, “empathy” and “emotional intelligence” are used to promote organisational goals. He explains that what is different about C21 emotional extraction is the manipulation of emotional wellness and empathy to persuade workers to consent to longer hours and increased workplace interaction, and also reduces grievances being expressed. Another new factor relates to using neuroscience to legitimise this by supposedly proving benefits to brain development. The third factor the author points to is the interest in “culturally based emotional difference” (2017, p215). Forbes magazine concluded the Philippines, the call centre capital, was the most emotionally aware of all nations! Of course, many would say one of the most exploited! An interesting observation was made explaining the division of emotional labour in the service industry, “low wage workers often immigrants, women and people of colour-expected to use basic emotional display rules while those in office settings are taught to cultivate higher order emotional capacities” (2017, p221). Padios explains how “racialized and gendered logic” influence emotional extraction as do the old exploitive colonial world systems. Emotional extraction can be damaging not just to individuals but to entire populations.

Bronte Petrolo said : Guest Report 5 years ago

As Padios (2017, p. 212) states most services “involve emotions that must be displayed, enhanced, or even eradicated”, resulting in “the extraction of emotion” from all stakeholders, including “workers, customers, or clients”. One industry which especially encounters emotional extraction is the service industry. This is apparent in Padios’ (2017, p. 212-213) examples of call centers in the Philippines and the techniques they are taught to empathise with customers, even through changing the tone of their voice. Emotional extraction is also highly racial and gendered, existent within call centers and the service industry, as Filipinos are considered to be "naturally caring people", evident in the global dominance of Filipinos as "domestic workers and nurses" (Padios 2017, p. 212-213). Thomspon et al. (2001, p. 931-932) also mentions how aesthetic labour is gendered, whereby the employers are seeking for the “‘right’ sort of appearance”, with experience not being essential. The gendered nature of aesthetic labour is evident through the “commodification of sexual difference”, associated with just the female body. Thus, do males also experience aesthetic labour and emotional extraction, whereby they must appear physically and emotionally in a certain way to satisfy their employers?

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