"Emotional labor is the work that underpins our lives. It's the thought and care that goes into everything, from what meals to make to what discipline style to use to deciding the best time to have a hard conversation. Emotional labor is what creates and nurtures communities and connections, and it's present in every interaction we have. What is emotional labor? In 1983, Arlie Russell Hochschild, the same sociologist who defined "the second shift," also coined the term "emotional labor.""
"A flight attendant who needs to manage their own emotions while being condescended to by a drunk passenger must read the feelings of others, predict their behavior, and respond in a way that creates a certain emotional environment. The same work is present in planning holiday meals, delegating tasks on Sunday cleaning days, and facilitating relationships between in‑laws and their grandkids. Navigating everyone's needs, wants, personalities, behaviors, and expectations takes empathy, consideration, and care."
Emotional labor underpins everyday life and involves the thought, care, and decision-making required to manage interactions, plan tasks, and tend relationships. It includes choices about meals, discipline, timing of hard conversations, and creating supportive environments. The concept originated in 1983 to describe emotion management in paid roles but has expanded to unpaid and domestic settings. Examples include flight attendants managing emotions with difficult passengers and family members coordinating holiday meals or mediating in‑law relationships. Emotional labor requires empathy, prediction of others' behavior, and sustained energy, and it is woven into nearly every interpersonal encounter.
Read at Business Insider
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