Learning in emotional labour and emotion work

The idea of emotional labour has been widely debated in recent years. Interest in the concept arises from wider debates about occupational change in what has been loosely labelled the ‘new economy’, as well as from growing academic interest in workers’ subjectivity and agency. First, the transformation of work in the established industrial nations has led to significant increases in various kinds of service work that require direct or technologically mediated human interaction. This, it is argued, places a growing premium on affective competences that were hitherto ignored or taken for granted. In turn, the globalisation of service industries, and indeed of consumer travel and demand, has brought Western expectations to the rest of the world. Second, the transformation of everyday life in Western societies – above all, the decline since the 1950s of inherited routines and established support systems – has disrupted many of the scripts that once governed social encounters. Instead of relying on habit and established guides to etiquette, individuals must fall back on their own resources. Abroad, in a world characterised by informality and apparent spontaneity, people may have to read and navigate each social encounter afresh (Misztal 2000). Finally, the cultural turn in the social sciences has brought renewed attention to workers’ feelings and their emotional qualities as significant factors that will shape how they engage with the job. Trade union and political campaigns over gender equality and against low pay have asserted the value of emotional labour, particularly among women workers (Franzway 2000).