Emotional Labor
- “what is emotional labor”
- “emotional labour meaning”
- “the exhaustion of being nice for a living”
- “is emotional labour unpaid housework”
:: COMPARE ::
Emotional laborvsEmotion work
The short answer
Same activity, different economy. Emotion work is done for people you love; emotional labor is done for a wage, under an employer's rules about what you must appear to feel. Hochschild drew that line herself and still defends it.
Side by side
| Aspect | Emotional labor | Emotion work |
|---|---|---|
| Paid | Yes | No |
| Rules set by | An employer | Nobody, or both of you |
| Can be refused | Not easily | In principle |
| Hochschild's term for it | This one | That one |
Which one you meant
Readers who land here meaning Emotional Labor rather than Emotion work are usually searching for phrases like “what is emotional labor”, “emotional labour meaning”, “the exhaustion of being nice for a living”.
Where the confusion comes from
“Emotional labor means remembering birthdays and managing a partner's moods — the household mental load.”
In Hochschild's definition it is PAID work. The unpaid private-sphere version has its own name in her scheme: 'emotion work'. She has said the broadening makes the concept blurrier, and calls its application to to-do lists and perfect Christmases an overextension.
Read either one in full
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