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"MANAGED HEART, THE" (ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD).
Term Paper ID:20159
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Essay Subject:
How service-oriented society has commercialized human feeling.... More...
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6 Pages / 1350 Words
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Paper Abstract:
How service-oriented society has commercialized human feeling.
Paper Introduction:
The Managed Heart by Arlie Russell Hochschild is subtitled "Commercialization of Human Feeling," and the book offers interesting insights into the consequences of a shift into a service economy and precisely what sort of commodity is sold in a service-oriented economic structure. This shift also has consequences for the relationship between the individual and his or her work, and Hochschild sees in this the danger of a new sort of alienation of labor, the alienation of the worker from an aspect of self, that aspect that is used to do the work: "If we can become alienated from goods in a goods-producing society, we can become alienated from service in a service-producing society" (7). In this book, Hochschild examines how the service-oriented society has commercialized human feeling and made it into a commodity, bought and sold the same as if it were a physical
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Hochschild next turns to the real issue in his book, the issue ofemotion in public life and the way in which emotion has been commercializedand shaped--managed, in the terminology of the title--to fit the commercialinterests of a company or organization. Deep acting refers to expressing a self-induced feeling.Hochschild makes an often confused comparison between the work of the stageactor and the ways in which the stage actor uses both surface acting anddeep acting and the ways in which we all use these techniques in our dailylives. Expressions of feeling havedifferent levels of meaning in different contexts. His point is thatacting in the commercial setting is more like stage acting in that it isintended to have a certain effect in a commercial setting, but he alsoclearly sees commercial emotion as less authentic, less acceptable, andmore damaging to the individual on its face. He saysthat the process works because of a transmutation of three basic elementsof emotional life--emotion work, feeling rules, and social exchange.Emotion work is now public rather than private, something bought and soldas a commodity. This shift also has consequences for the relationship betweenthe individual and his or her work, and Hochschild sees in this the dangerof a new sort of alienation of labor, the alienation of the worker from anaspect of self, that aspect that is used to do the work: "If we can becomealienated from goods in a goods-producing society, we can become alienatedfrom service in a service-producing society" (7). 57). Hochschild calls this feelingmanagement and says that rules are often set by management as to how theemployee is to feel and how those feelings are to be expressed. 89), and the issue is how does this affect the way a personrelates to his or her feelings. Emotion is seen by him as a gift, something that is used by theindividual to communicate with others and to fit into a specific socialrole. It is clearly detrimental to individual workers, but it is also truethat society as a whole has come to value "natural" feeling more as aresult. the issue then iswho benefits and who pays. Feeling rules are no longer simply matters of personaldiscretion but are spelled out publicly by management. Hochschild describes different situations in which the individual mayperceive that their "natural" emotion is not what is expected and who willthen prompt themselves to portray the emotion that is expected. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.----------------------- 8 Hochschild sees emotion as becoming anelement in the business situation, a commodity in its own right that isused to serve a commercial purpose. What Hochschild tries to do in the openingsections of the book is to describe how the emotion system works in privatelife. Women are also seen as makinga resource out of feeling and offering it as a gift to men in return forthe more material resources they lack. The more ouractivities as individual emotion managers are managed by organizations, themore we tend to celebrate the life of unmanaged feeling" (p. Hochschild does not deny that the process of emotion managementactually works, and indeed he tries to show some of the reasons why itworks as well as it does. When the system is placed in a commercial setting, it ischanged, and a profit motive replaces the gift exchange. Wemay try to change how we appear to others, and this is called surfaceacting. Aprojected feeling may or may not be appropriate to the situation, andHochschild considers how this works and the different parameters of emotionwhich fit different situations. Hochschild also notes that we all do a certain amount of acting. As a society, though, we have reacted differently by starting toplace an unprecedented value on spontaneous, "natural" feeling: "We areintrigued by the unmanaged heart and what it can tell us. The airline industry standsas a metaphor for the trend Hochschild sees in all of American businesstoday. Advertising projects certainemotional values and ideas, and the workers must conform to theexpectations raised by these ads. In this sense, Hochschild shows, our "real self" is revealed in emotion,however unwittingly. The real consequence Hochschild sees in this transmutation is anestrangement from display, from feeling, and from what feeling can tell us.We all know the commercialization of human feeling as observers andcustomers, and we have become adept at recognizing and discounting suchfeeling. Women more often react to subordination with the defensiveuse of sexual beauty, charm, and relationship skills, while male workers in"male" jobs find that it is more often their ability to wield anger andmake threats that serves them in the company. Hochschild makes a good case for the idea of the managed heart, butit is not clear in the end whether the trend can be seen as detrimental ornot. The smile is the first emotionalprojection that has become commercialized, and it raises expectations tosuch a degree that disappointment may result. As he makes these comparisons, though, a third comparison is seen,one that he is trying to develop in this book but that he often developswithout making a clear reference to his meaning. In addition, the fact that we all recognize managed feelings anddiscount them makes the commercialization of feeling counter-productive inthe commercial situation, raising the question of whether it will last as amanagement tool. That is the comparisonbetween "real" behavior and "commercial" behavior, or behavior in acommercial setting rather than in our private lives. Hochschild discusses feeling rules, or the rules that guide emotionwork by establishing the sense of entitlement or obligation governingemotional exchanges. Hochschilddiscerns certain consequences that are less than attractive, however. Hochschild's analysis is determined by his view of emotion, its placein human behavior, and its effects on the individual feeling the emotionand the person perceiving the emotion. Women tend to specialize in the flight attendant role, or thepleasing of the customer, while men tend to specialize in the billcollector role, or frightening the customer. Hochschild says that this entire systemhas as its ostensible purpose the welfare and pleasure of the peopleinvolved. 19 ). If emotion were simply crippling, all decisions would be suspect.The emotion we perceive in others helps locate our position and alsodetermines how we view the meaning of the other person's words or behavior. This is one of the dangersof the commercialization of emotion. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Hochschild, Arlie Russell. He notes that there isa perception that emotion is somehow crippling and causes people to makemistakes or misperceive events because their view is "colored" by emotion.While Hochschild agrees that this can be true, he also feels that it is amistake to assign such a singular effect to emotion, which after allcommunicates something and which is felt by everyone in some degree at alltimes. The ability to control the emotion work of employees and to projectcertain emotions in the interactions between workers and customers is seenas a competitive advantage by the airlines. 118). He says that a nearly alchemical changes isbrought about by the process: "Civility and a general sense of well-beinghave been enhanced and emotional 'pollution' controlled" (p. There are many jobs that call for some degree of emotional labor, asHochschild calls it, but characteristically they allow the management todetermine aspects of the emotion work of the individual employee.Hochschild also finds that there are gender and status issues involved inthis emotional management, which is to be expected since the privateemotion system is also governed by issues of gender and status. Social exchange isnow forced into narrow channels. Another consequence is that foreach gender there is a different position of the managed heart enlisted forcommercial use. Hefinds that the general subordination of women leaves each individual womanwith a weaker status shield against the displaced feelings of others.Emotion work is seen as different in important ways for men and for womenbecause each gender tends to be called on to do different kinds of emotionwork. To explain this further, Hochschild uses a number ofexamples to show what people in different situations feel about theiractions in relation to emotional convention. In suchsituations, "private capacities for empathy and warmth are put to corporateuses" (p. We recognize a feeling ruleby inspecting how we assess our feelings, how other people assess ouremotional displays, and by sanctions arising from ourselves and from them.Some groups cultivate the habit of suppressing their emotions more than doother groups: "To the extent that it does these things, the very ways inwhich we acknowledge feeling rules reflect where we stand on the sociallandscape" (p. In this book, Hochschildexamines how the service-oriented society has commercialized human feelingand made it into a commodity, bought and sold the same as if it were aphysical product. The Managed Heart by Arlie Russell Hochschild is subtitled"Commercialization of Human Feeling," and the book offers interestinginsights into the consequences of a shift into a service economy andprecisely what sort of commodity is sold in a service-oriented economicstructure. Throughout the book, he returns inparticular to the airline industry and to the training that is provided inthat industry to stewards, stewardesses, and others who meet the public asto what sorts of emotion they should project. It places a burden on the worker andalso sets the customer up for certain expectations and certaindisappointments, altering the commercial situation in subtle ways.
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