First coined in 1973 to describe a pathological response on the part of individuals involved in kidnapping or hostage-taking situations, the label "Stockholm syndrome" has since been used in a much broader range of contexts including reference to wife battering and human trafficking, and in debates about gender and race politics as well as international relations. Tracing the domain expansion of Stockholm syndrome since the 1970s, we examine how the label offers claimsmakers a device for neutralizing the arguments of those with opposing points of view, and, in so doing, reinforces collective narratives and "formula stories" of victimization.
This article examines the emotional culture of flight attendants thirty-two years after Hochschild's (1983) study, The Managed Heart. Using data collected by participant observation and informal interviews, we argue that flight attendants are empowered by post-9/11 institutional changes in security policies and as a result are using more discretion in how they perform courteous emotional labor. We put forward two interrelated conceptsthe "9/11 effect" and "role shields"-to explain how a new emphasis on safety over courtesy in institutional policies provides cabin crew with a normative resource to achieve greater autonomy. We establish that flight attendants are now more assertive when they interact with passengers. By acknowledging the flight attendant's post-9/11 experience and their increase in what we label emotional agency, this study offers a historical-comparative complement to Hochschild's emphasis on emotive constraints.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.