European University Institute Library

The managed heart, commercialization of human feeling, Arlie Russell Hochschild

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

The managed heart

bibliography

794295213

Arlie Russell Hochschild

commercialization of human feeling

Arlie Hochschild examines two groups of public-contact workers: flight attendants and bill collectors. The flight attendant's job is to deliver a service and create further demand for it, to enhance the status of the customer and be "nicer than natural." The bill collector's job is to collect on the service, and if necessary, to deflate the status of the customer by being "nastier than natural." Between these extremes, roughly one-third of American men and one-half of American women hold jobs that call for substantial emotional labor. In many of these jobs, they are trained to accept feeling rules and techniques of emotion management that serve the company's commercial purpose. Like a physical laborer who becomes estranged from what he or she makes, an emotional laborer, such as a flight attendant, can become estranged not only from her own expressions of feeling (her smile is not "her" smile), but also from what she actually feels (her managed friendliness). This estrangement, though a valuable defense against stress, is also an important occupational hazard, because it is through our feelings that we are connected with those around us

Private life. Exploring the managed heart -- Feeling as clue -- Managing feeling -- Feeling rules -- Paying respects with feeling : the gift exchange. Public life. Feeling management : from private to commercial uses -- Between the toe and the heel : jobs and emotional labor -- Gender, status, and feeling -- The search for authenticity -- Models of emotion : from Darwin to Coffman -- Naming feeling -- Jobs and emotional labor -- Positional and personal control systems