Emotion labor at 911: A case study and theoretical critique

Beyond choice: ‘Thick’ volunteering and the case of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

“…Studies of police work (e.g. Van Maanen, 1980;Brewer, 1990;Tracy & Tracy, 1998;Dick & Cassell, 2004), the work of the armed forces (e.g. Thornborrow & Brown, 2009) have said about identity, she positions this in terms of a narrative and personal journeybefore, during, and after -during which she changes as a person.…”

Advising Students to Value and Develop Emotional Labor Skills for the Workplace

“…For example, funeral directors who learn to feel and express genuine sadness for the loss of loved ones by consciously empathizing with the mourners or remembering their own grief over their own losses is engaged in deep acting (Tracy & Tracy, 1998). In repeated service exchanges, feeling rules get cast and recast under the purview of the employer's controlling interests to the point that the rules supersede the innate signaling function served by human feelings.…”

“…As recently as the end of the 20th century, literature on the sociology of work and organizations was still dominated by studies of employee action in labor processes (e.g., Braverman, 1974) and showed relatively little emphasis on the role emotions play in the performance of work (Tracy & Tracy, 1998). Rationality was seen as the key to effective and efficient organizational functioning and emotionality was treated as either a private matter or a problem.…”

“…These studies extended knowledge of emotional labor among occupations such as police officers (Ehrlich, 1999;Stenross & Kleinman, 1989); firefighters (Scott & Myers, 2005); corrections officers (Tracy, 2005); emergency responders (Tracy & Tracy, 1998); nurses (Bolton, 2001;Vitello-Cicciu, 2003); midwives (Hunter, 2001); mortuary scientists (Cahill, 1999); social workers (Barlow & Hall, 2007;Leeson, 2010); teachers (Hebson, Earnshaw, & Marchington, 2007;Oplatka, 2007); and hospitality providers (Payne, 2009). While training in these fields often included consideration of emotional labor topics and skills, researchers found that workers in these fields also reported acquiring emotion management skills through more informal, social means such as discussing cases with peers, consulting with a mentor, or reflecting upon recent performances.…”

“…That picture, however, is rapidly changing. Scholars are increasingly voicing the position that emotion is integral to social interaction in any context and is arguably the key to corporate excellence (Bierema, 2008;Mumby & Putnam, 1992;Putnam & Mumby, 1993;Tracy & Tracy, 1998).…”