Is emotional labor only about faking emotions?

No. While it can involve surface acting (faking), it also includes deep acting (genuinely trying to feel the required emotion) and emotion suppression. The key is the regulation is done to meet a job or role requirement.

Who coined the term 'emotional labor'?

The term was coined by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in her 1983 book 'The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling.'

Can men perform emotional labor?

Yes. While the concept was initially used to analyze women's unpaid work, it applies to any gender in roles requiring emotion management (e.g., therapists, managers, customer service reps). However, studies show it is still often gendered and expected more from women.

What's the difference between 'emotional labor' and 'emotion work'?

Hochschild distinguished 'emotional labor' as sold for a wage and governed by employer rules, while 'emotion work' is done in private life. In contemporary usage, 'emotional labor' is often used broadly to cover both spheres.

emotional labor

UK/ɪˈməʊʃ(ə)n(ə)l ˈleɪbə/US/ɪˈmoʊʃ(ə)n(ə)l ˈleɪbər/

academic, journalistic, professional discourse, feminist critique

My Flashcards

Definition

Meaning

The process of managing one's own emotions and outward emotional expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job or social role.

The unpaid, often invisible, and mentally taxing work of regulating, suppressing, or performing emotions to create a specific emotional state in others or to maintain social harmony, especially in professional, caregiving, or domestic contexts.

Linguistics

Semantic Notes

This term is a sociological concept often distinguished from physical or cognitive labor. It implies an expectation, obligation, and often a power dynamic, rather than spontaneous emotional expression.

Dialectal Variation

British vs American Usage

Differences

Both variants use the same spelling 'labour/labor'. The concept is identically understood. The primary difference is lexical: 'emotional labour' (UK) vs. 'emotional labor' (US).

Connotations

Identical connotations in both variants. The term carries connotations of exploitation, gender inequality, and workplace psychological strain.

Frequency

Slightly more frequent in US discourse due to wider popularization in mainstream media and business literature, but highly prevalent in UK academic and sociological contexts.

Vocabulary

Collocations

strong

invisible emotional laborunpaid emotional laborgendered emotional laborperform emotional labormanage emotional labor

medium

demands of emotional laborburden of emotional laborengage in emotional laborexpectation of emotional laborcost of emotional labor

weak

daily emotional laborconstant emotional laborheavy emotional laborsignificant emotional laborprofessional emotional labor

Grammar

Valency Patterns

to perform emotional labor (for sb)to be engaged in emotional laborthe emotional labor of (caregiving/managing)to expect emotional labor from sb

Vocabulary

Synonyms

Strong

emotional toilpsychological servitudeaffective exploitation

Neutral

emotion workaffective laboremotion management

Weak

people skillsemotional careinterpersonal maintenance

Vocabulary

Antonyms

emotional authenticityunfiltered expressionspontaneous emotioncognitive laborphysical labor

Phrases

Idioms & Phrases

“to wear the mask”
“to put on a brave face”
“to grin and bear it”
“to be the emotional shock absorber”

Usage

Context Usage

Business

Refers to customer service roles where employees must maintain cheerfulness regardless of customer abuse, or managers who must morale-boost.

Academic

Used in sociology, gender studies, and organizational psychology to analyze gendered work, service economy, and mental health.

Everyday

Discussed in context of household chores, parenting, and relationship dynamics, especially regarding who manages social calendars and familial emotions.

Technical

In HR and occupational health, refers to psychosocial risk factors and potential grounds for burnout or harassment claims.

Examples

By Part of Speech

verb

British English

Service staff are expected to emotional labour throughout their shift.
She emotional laboured for years before burning out.

American English

He emotional labored to keep the team motivated during the crisis.
Therapists must carefully manage how they emotional labor with clients.

adverb

British English

She smiled emotional-labouringly at the rude customer.
He responded emotional-labouringly to maintain the peace.

American English

They interacted emotional-laboriously to secure the deal.
She listened emotional-laboringly to her friend's problems.

adjective

British English

The emotional-labour aspects of nursing are often overlooked.
She faced an emotional-labour-intensive day with demanding clients.

American English

His role has significant emotional-labor components.
They discussed emotional-labor expectations during the interview.

Examples

By CEFR Level

Her job has a lot of emotional labour. She must always be nice.
Mothers often do emotional labour at home.

Flight attendants perform emotional labour by staying calm and friendly with passengers.
The teacher felt tired from the emotional labour of managing the children's feelings all day.

The study highlighted the gendered distribution of emotional labour in heterosexual couples, with women consistently undertaking more.
Burnout in healthcare is frequently linked to the unacknowledged emotional labour of caring for patients and their families.

The corporation's new well-being policy superficially addresses workload but completely ignores the systemic extraction of emotional labour from its frontline staff.
Feminist scholars argue that the commodification of emotional labour in the service sector perpetuates both class and gender inequalities.

Learning

Memory Aids

Mnemonic

Think of a flight attendant smiling through turbulence — their job isn't just serving drinks, it's performing calmness. That performance IS the labor.

Conceptual Metaphor

EMOTIONS ARE A COMMODITY / EMOTIONAL REGULATION IS WORK / THE MIND IS A WORKPLACE.

Watch out

Common Pitfalls

Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)

Avoid literal translation as 'эмоциональный труд' which can be misinterpreted as physically strenuous work driven by emotion. The concept is better captured by описательные фразы like 'невидимая эмоциональная работа' or 'управление эмоциями как обязанность'.
Do not confuse with 'чувственность' or 'эмоциональность'. The term is about regulated performance, not natural feeling.

Common Mistakes

Using it to describe any hard emotional experience (e.g., 'Grieving was emotional labor'). It requires a role-based expectation.
Confusing it with empathy or simple kindness. It involves sustained, conscious regulation for a professional or social payoff.
Misspelling as 'emotional labour/labor' when used as a compound noun. Hyphen is less common ('emotional-labour').

Practice

Quiz

Fill in the gap

Waitressing isn't just physical work; the constant smiling and dealing with difficult customers involves a great deal of .

Multiple Choice

In which scenario is 'emotional labor' MOST accurately applied?

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

: No. While it can involve surface acting (faking), it also includes deep acting (genuinely trying to feel the required emotion) and emotion suppression. The key is the regulation is done to meet a job or role requirement.
: The term was coined by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in her 1983 book 'The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling.'
: Yes. While the concept was initially used to analyze women's unpaid work, it applies to any gender in roles requiring emotion management (e.g., therapists, managers, customer service reps). However, studies show it is still often gendered and expected more from women.
: Hochschild distinguished 'emotional labor' as sold for a wage and governed by employer rules, while 'emotion work' is done in private life. In contemporary usage, 'emotional labor' is often used broadly to cover both spheres.