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Emotional Labor

In: Social Issues

Submitted By nanita0511
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Pages 2
Emotional Labor and the Pursuit of Happiness

Emotional Labor shows the dimensions and costs of an employer's hold on their employee's personality. Portraying the social service employee as the employer's puppet, the employer needing full control over their mood, image, fashion, etc. . Furthermore, people are bound emotionally to jobs that require specific "personality types", thus, taking an emotional toll on the employee. This prevents and at the same time creates a different personality on the individual that stops them from pursuing their own interests and happiness.
For example like the depiction of a flight attendant being emotionally trained to look at a negative situation as "the passenger having a bad time", perfectly illustrates the point that employers are consistently trying to control their employees, yet simultaneously the social workforce loses its sense of autonomy and individuality and gains the corporate or employer's desired identity. Consequently, emotional labor is divided into two groups; the few who are in control and the many that are being controlled. Such a system binds individuals to their level in the occupational hierarchy, being either forced to alter their behavior and feelings for the sake of employment or forcing others to abide by corporate images. Ultimately, gender and racial roles are exacerbated by employers’ emotional manipulation, allowing business organization and desires to control the values and ethics behind society. Where can this possibly lead us as a culture? Will gender/racial roles play a lesser role in the future because businesses might eventually turn to emotional selection? It seems as if people continue to finds ways to separate and discriminate. During the last few years where the economy has suffered millions of job losses, employers have gained the upper hand on this issue as employees are more afraid than

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