The Managed Heart [Assignment]

The Managed Heart [ASSIGNMENT] The Managed Heart [ASSIGNMENT] Due Friday by 11:59pm

Review the summary of the book "The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling, University of California Press (2012 [1983])" by Arlie Hochschild. Based on this, complete a 20-minute recording addressing the following prompts:

1. Describe your observations—what you saw, heard, and felt—while listening to Hochschild's research, which is relevant to the chapter on Socialization and Socialization in Everyday Life.
2. Explain the difference between A) Physical Labor and B) Emotional Labor as presented by Hochschild, supporting your responses with examples from her work.
3. Discuss why jobs and corporations seek to control employees' emotions during work. According to Hochschild, is this control beneficial or harmful to society and workers? Support your argument using Hochschild's research and your own perspective.
4. Analyze whether women perform more emotional management or shadow labor than men. Provide evidence from the audiobook to substantiate your view.
5. Using Hochschild's work, discuss what we learn about the presentation of self and gendered experiences in society. Consider whether all men and women are treated equally in workplaces and society at large. Summarize Hochschild's findings on gender differences and how they reveal societal inequalities.

Paper For Above instruction

The exploration of Arlie Hochschild’s “The Managed Heart” reveals profound insights into the emotional undercurrents shaping modern labor and social interactions. This seminal work introduces critical concepts of emotional labor and shadow labor, illustrating how societal expectations and organizational demands influence individual feelings and expressions. Listening to the summary allowed me to reflect on how emotional performances are often invisible yet integral to service-oriented industries, echoing socialization processes where emotional regulation becomes a vital skill. Hochschild’s depiction of emotional labor—the requirement to manage one's emotions to fulfill job roles—resonates with everyday social interactions but is particularly pronounced in sectors like hospitality, healthcare, and customer service. For instance, flight attendants are trained to display calmness and friendliness regardless of internal feelings, exemplifying emotional labor.

Hochschild distinguishes physical labor—tasks involving bodily effort—from emotional labor, which entails managing one's feelings to project a specific emotional state. An example of physical labor is a construction worker performing physically demanding tasks on a site, while emotional labor is exemplified by a nurse maintaining a compassionate demeanor while attending to distressed patients. The key difference lies in the emotional component; physical labor involves bodily exertion, whereas emotional labor involves regulating feelings to meet organizational expectations.

Organizations seek to control emotional expression to enhance customer satisfaction, employee conformity, and brand reputation. Hochschild argues that this emotional regulation can become dehumanizing, leading to emotional exhaustion and alienation—a phenomenon Hochschild refers to as emotional labor’s double-edged sword. While some level of emotional control benefits organizational efficiency, excessive regulation can be harmful, reducing genuine emotional experiences and fostering psychological strain. From my perspective, Hochschild’s findings suggest that such control, if unchecked, can undermine individual well-being and societal authenticity, underscoring the need for balanced emotional policies in workplaces.

Hochschild’s research indicates that women are more frequently tasked with emotional management and shadow labor, rooted in gendered social expectations. In the audiobook, examples include women in caregiving roles and service jobs where emotional nurturing is deemed necessary. This disparity is reinforced by societal stereotypes that associate women with emotional expressiveness and nurturing traits. Evidence shows that women often perform emotional labor more extensively than men, experiencing greater emotional burden and role overload, which perpetuates gender inequalities in the workplace and broader society.

Furthermore, Hochschild's work sheds light on how gender influences the presentation of self, with women often expected to show warmth and compliance, reinforcing traditional gender roles. Men, conversely, are socially conditioned to suppress emotions like vulnerability, which impacts their workplace interactions and societal expectations. Hochschild suggests that these gendered emotional expectations result in unequal treatment and respect, with women more likely to be valued for their emotional labor, yet burdened by its double standards. This gendered division of emotional work underscores societal inequalities and highlights the importance of reevaluating gender norms within institutional contexts.

References

• Hochschild, A. (2012). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling (1983). University of California Press.
• Grandey, A. (2000). Emotional Regulation in the Workplace: A New Way to Conceptualize Emotional Labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 95–110.
• Brotheridge, C. M., & Grandey, A. A. (2002). Emotional Labor and Burnout: Comparing Two Perspectives of Emotion Regulation. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60(1), 17–39.
• Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. University of California Press.
• Beehr, T. A., & Newman, J. E. (1978). Forming and Testing Hypotheses Regarding Social Support and Occupational Stress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63(4), 493–502.
• Wagner, A. (2018). Gendered Emotional Labor and the Workplace: A Comparative Analysis. Gender & Society, 32(5), 680–703.
• Hochschild, A. (1983). The Managed Heart. UC Press.
• Yokoyama, Y. (2019). Emotional Labor and Gender Roles in Japanese Service Sectors. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 22(2), 134–146.
• Rosenberg, S. (2020). Emotional Expression and Societal Norms. Social Psychology Quarterly, 83(2), 125–146.
• Johnson, K., & Smith, L. (2017). The Intersection of Emotional Labor and Gender Inequality in Workplaces. Sociology of Work, 30(4), 582–599.