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verbal and nonverbal cues people
communicate to one another.
Emotional rules refer to the level
of people’s emotions, the directions
they take, and how long they
endure. For example, if a loved
one dies, there is a strong social
expectation that the grieving
process will take time to run its
course. In essence, emotional
rules exist that influence what
constitutes an appropriate
response to death, how powerful
the response should be, and the
length of time it should last.
Delta Airlines
The interconnected notions of
emotional labor and emotional work
were explored by Hochschild in her
most celebrated book, The
Managed Heart: Commercialization
of Human Feeling (1983). The study
focuses primarily on Delta Airlines.
She demonstrates that the airline
consistently hired people who it
perceived could be controlled
physically—in terms of their
personal appearance—and
emotionally. Keen to increase
passenger numbers, Delta focused
on employing young, attractive,
single women, although a small
number of men were employed too.
The appeal of the women was that
they were perceived to embody,
in the most literal ways, the very
specific ideals and image the
corporation wanted to project to
customers. Especially important
was that flight attendants did not
use surface acting when displaying
emotion. In order to ensure
passengers felt the emotional
experience they were receiving
was authentic, flight attendants
were taught to practice “deep
acting” by producing within
themselves emotional displays that
were sincere and genuine. Delta
Airlines recognized that authentic
displays of emotion and emotional
performances are far easier to
perform and sustain “when theWORK AND CONSUMERISM
feelings are actually present.”
Training manuals and guidelines
were issued so that flight
attendants could perform emotional
labor and produce authentic
performances. The manuals taught
an array of sophisticated strategies
with which to produce corporately
calculated emotional states and
feeling repertoires. If these were
genuine, passengers would feel ❯❯Emotional labor is,
according to Hochschild, the
“commercialization of human
feeling.” Delta Airlines, she
says, trained recruits so
that they could transcend
“surface acting,” whereby
postures or expressions are
deceits and feel faked. The
company urged trainees to
imagine the cabin as their
home, into which they
welcomed customers as
“personal guests.” Once staff
had mastered the art of “deep
acting,” feigning sincerity
became unnecessary as real
feelings were self-induced.In the case of the flight
attendant, the emotional
style... is... the service.
Arlie Russell
HochschildSurface acting Deep acting
I’m tired, fed up, and
I want to go home.You’re my guest and
I’m happy to help you in
any way I can.Champagne, sir?