Title: Centring and engendering emotions in service work: Hochschild's managed heart and the valuing of feelings in organisation research

Authors: Patricia Lewis, Ruth Simpson

Addresses: Kent Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7PE, UK. ' Brunel Business School, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, UK

Abstract: This paper explores how Arlie Hochschild|s concept of emotional labour put the service sector and gender at the heart of our understanding of work in contemporary organisations. In The Managed Heart, Hochschild provides us with the means to understand the nature and commercial value of the social interactions involved in the delivery of a service. She also exposes how traditional expressions of women|s gender and the emphasis on being feminine are harnessed for the commercial gain of organisations. Her scholarship has extended our understanding of what ||work|| is debunking the assumption that ||real work|| only takes place in manufacturing.

Keywords: emotional labour; service work; commercial value; manufacturing-services binary divide; manufacturing; services; gendered nature of work; gender; social interactions; women; femininity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2009.025398

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2009 Vol.3 No.1, pp.56 - 64

Published online: 21 May 2009 *

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