In the 1970s, a new branch of sociology developed: the sociology of emotions. This new discipline aims to study and interpret everyday social relationships. Arlie Russell Hochschild, born in Boston in 1940, can be considered the founder of this current of study. She is now Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a writer.
She has always been interested in Goffman's studies, ever since she was a child. Indeed, her studies follow a dramaturgical-cultural approach through which emotions are studied as fundamental means of communication for social interactions.
Rule of feeling and rule of expression
Sociologist Hochschild studies and interprets emotions as if they were social objects, created by the individual for society. According to her studies, each individual's emotions are guided by so-called feelings rules and display rules . These norms are acquired by individuals at an early age, so early that they are considered natural and automatic. Therefore, viewing them as norms inseparable from human nature is one of the most common errors in this field. Let's look at these aforementioned rules together:
- The rules of feeling help the individual to feel the most appropriate emotion for the context in which he finds himself acting. Violating them is unlikely to have social consequences for the individual because only he is aware of them.
- The rules of expression, on the other hand, indicate the way in which the emotion felt by the subject should be manifested to the public.
Social interaction is crucial in this case, because it is through other individuals that we learn the appropriate emotions to feel on certain occasions and how they should be expressed. The result of acquiring norms for expressing emotions and adhering to them constitutes emotional culture. Emotional culture varies due to a multitude of factors, such as geographic location or a specific historical context.
Arlie Russell Hochschild: Emotional Labor
In addition to having theorized the rules for the manifestation of emotion, Hochschild also specified the areas in which they can be violated or respected, such as: emotion work and emotional labor . Both terms are cognate with the sociologist.
Emotional labor is the effort an individual makes daily to control their emotions. It is nothing more than the act of changing the degree or even the emotion itself depending on the context in which one finds oneself acting. Emotional labor is indirectly proportional to the degree of intimacy one has with the interlocutor; this means that the greater the intimacy between individuals, the less effort will be required, because usually when one is with a friend or a partner, masks are dropped. Conversely, the less intimacy there is between interlocutors, the greater the emotional labor will be required, because, in that case, it is important to make a good impression. The cognitive processes behind this mechanism are: the evocation of emotion and the suppression of its external expression . Their proper functioning reflects an excellent ability to measure moral, social, and strategic competence.
Arlie Russell Hochschild: Emotional Labor
Emotional labor is always tied to a monetary value, so it depends greatly on the type of employment contract. The employment contract may be based on face-to-face contact with the client, may require the employee to generate emotions in the client, or may empower the employer to monitor the activities and emotional expressions of employees. The relationship between the role and emotional labor depends on the importance of the role; the more important the role, the greater the emotional labor.
There are several types of emotional labor , which depend on the professional activity performed and the timing of the emotional labor, including preparatory, in situ, and retrospective. The preparatory type involves emotional labor before engaging in the action and is essential for all professions characterized by conflict, such as law. Emotional labor in the in situ type occurs during the action, but the more thorough the preparatory phase, the less effort the individual will have to exert to exercise some degree of emotional control. In the retrospective type, however, the effort is made once the performance is completed.
Both jobs involve pretense and constant emotional control by individuals, which could pose risks for the subjects, especially those subjected to heavy scrutiny and intense management of emotional expression, as they may persist in pretense even when alone. Hochschild, in fact, has repeatedly highlighted a series of side effects and significant psychological costs.
Emotional culture of gender
Emotional expressiveness has gender differences that depend on the society in which one lives. In Western culture, there is usually a social belief that emphasizes differences in the expressive intensity of certain emotions. For example, women are considered more delicate and less aggressive, while men are considered more rigid and impulsive. Due to these social constructs dictated by widespread beliefs, women perform greater emotional labor in their daily lives because they are judged to be highly emotional; therefore, respecting the rules of the context requires greater effort than men.
Even today, there are professions that are constrained by gender norms and expectations. Some studies have confirmed that some women face difficulties in carrying out their work because they are often judged inadequate. On the other hand, men live with the burden of not having to experience emotions. A real man is strong, silent, and ignores his feelings.
Federica Izzo
Bibliographic and web references
- M. Cerulo, Sociology of Emotions Authors, Theories, Concepts, Bologna, Il Mulino 2018;
- AR Hochschild, Emotional Labor and Social Structure, Armando Editore, Rome, 2013;
