In critical defence of 'emotional labour': refuting Bolton's critique of Hochschild's concept

Brook, Paul (2009) In critical defence of 'emotional labour': refuting Bolton's critique of Hochschild's concept. Work, Employment and Society, 23 (3). pp. 531-548.

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Abstract

Sharon Bolton’s comprehensive critique of Hochschild’s concept of ‘emotional labour’ is flawed by her misinterpretation of its primary form as an aspect of labour power. Consequently, she erroneously argues that emotional labour is commodified only when transformed into commercial service work. However, emotion workers experience commodification of their labour power as wage-labour, irrespective of the nature of their product. Bolton also argues that Hochschild’s notion of workers undergoing a ‘transmutation of feelings’ renders them ‘crippled actors’ in the grip of management control. Hochschild, however, theorizes transmutation as a contradictory and unstable condition albeit in an under-developed form. While Bolton correctly argues for a theory of emotion work that captures the complexity and contradictory nature of the emotional workplace, it is not necessary to reject the emotional labour concept. Rather, it needs to be more fully theorized and integrated within Labour Process Analysis.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Applied Business & Technology
Depositing User:	Ineke Tijsma
Date Deposited:	16 Mar 2015 14:03
Last Modified:	07 Aug 2023 15:05
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/1432

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