emotional labour
C1-C2Formal, Academic, Journalistic
Definition
Meaning
The process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job or social role.
The unpaid, often invisible, psychological effort involved in regulating one's own emotions and performing emotional work to maintain harmony, comfort others, or meet professional expectations, frequently leading to exhaustion.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
The term often carries connotations of exploitation, gender inequality, and the commodification of feelings in service industries and care work.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Spelling: 'labour' (UK) vs. 'labor' (US). The term is used similarly in both varieties, but the sociological concept may be more prevalent in UK academic discourse.
Connotations
In both varieties, strongly associated with feminist theory, sociology of work, and critiques of the service economy.
Frequency
High frequency in academic and progressive social/political commentary; moderate in general journalism; low in everyday casual conversation.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[Subject] performs emotional labour by [gerund phrase][Subject] is exhausted from the emotional labour of [noun phrase]The emotional labour required for [role/task] is significant.Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “to bear the emotional load”
- “to be the emotional sponge”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Refers to customer service roles where employees must maintain a cheerful demeanour regardless of personal feelings or customer abuse.
Academic
Used in sociology, gender studies, and organisational psychology to analyse unpaid, gendered work and the commodification of emotion.
Everyday
Used to describe the effort of calming a friend, managing family dynamics, or feigning interest in social situations.
Technical
In HR and occupational health, refers to job demands that include emotion regulation, with potential links to burnout.
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- She is emotionally labouring to keep the team morale high.
- He emotionally laboured through the difficult client meeting.
American English
- She emotionally labored to appease the angry customer.
- Teachers often emotionally labor without recognition.
adverb
British English
- She worked emotionally labour-intensively throughout the shift.
- (Rarely used)
American English
- (Rarely used)
- (Rarely used)
adjective
British English
- The emotional-labour burden falls disproportionately on women.
- It was an emotional-labour-intensive role.
American English
- She discussed the emotional-labor demands of healthcare.
- They ignored the emotional-labor component of the job.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- The job needs a smile. This is emotional labour.
- Nurses do a lot of emotional labour because they must be kind to patients.
- The concept of emotional labour explains why service jobs are often exhausting, not just physically but mentally.
- Sociologists argue that the gendered distribution of emotional labour in the home perpetuates inequality, as women consistently manage the family's emotional well-being.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of a flight attendant smiling through turbulence – that's 'emotional LABOUR' because it's hard work (labour) to manage emotions (emotional).
Conceptual Metaphor
EMOTIONS ARE A RESOURCE TO BE MANAGED / EMOTIONAL REGULATION IS A FORM OF WORK
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Не переводите как "эмоциональный труд" в смысле физической работы. Концепт шире.
- Избегайте прямого перевода "labour" как "роды".
- Учитывайте социологический подтекст, который может отсутствовать в прямом переводе.
Common Mistakes
- Confusing it with 'being emotional at work'.
- Using it to simply mean 'hard work that is emotional'.
- Misspelling as 'emotional labor' in UK contexts or 'emotional labour' in US contexts where consistency is expected.
Practice
Quiz
In which context is the term 'emotional labour' used most precisely?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No. While surface acting (faking) is part of it, it also includes deep acting (genuinely trying to feel the required emotion) and the cognitive work of sensing others' emotional needs.
Yes. While the term highlights work traditionally expected of women, anyone in a caregiving, service, or managerial role can perform emotional labour. The critique often focuses on its gendered expectation and devaluation.
Not exactly. Empathy is the capacity. Emotional labour is the active process of managing and regulating emotions (both your own and others') based on that empathy, often as a job requirement or social expectation.
The sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild introduced the term in her 1983 book 'The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling', based on studies of flight attendants and bill collectors.