The Managed Heart

Book summary

Arlie Russell Hochschild is professor emerita in Sociology at the University of Berkeley, California. In 2015, she won the American Sociological Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the author of The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times.

Women disproportionately shoulder the burden of emotional labor, a dynamic that has far-reaching consequences on how their emotions and authority are perceived. Their emotional expressions are often dismissed as irrational or uncontrollable, leading to biases in contexts like healthcare, where women’s symptoms are taken less seriously than men’s. In professional settings, women are expected to balance emotional labor with enforcing authority, a dual expectation that often undermines their credibility. This imbalance extends to personal relationships, where societal norms pressure women to manage emotions in ways that compensate for systemic inequalities in power and status. Emotional labor, frequently seen as an innate aspect of femininity, is in fact a strategic response to these inequities, particularly in workplaces where such roles are predominantly filled by women. Furthermore, societal expectations dictate how emotions should be expressed, often forcing individuals to conform to norms that conflict with their authentic feelings. This interplay of emotional labor, societal norms, and power dynamics creates a complex web of expectations, where those with less power are compelled to provide emotional labor without adequate recognition or reciprocation.

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