The Managed Heart

The author’s “doctrine of feelings” refers to the societal norms and beliefs that influence how people value and perceive emotions based on one’s social status. This doctrine posits that society often invalidates or devalues individuals in lower-status positions. The text argues that this doctrine reinforces social hierarchies by legitimizing the emotions of those in power while dismissing the feelings of subordinates. This systemic invalidation contributes to the emotional labor burden placed on lower-status individuals because they must constantly navigate and manage their emotions to conform to dominant expectations, which further entrenches their subordinate status.

The book defines emotional labor as the effort to manage and sometimes suppress personal emotions to fulfill the requirements of a job. Emotional labor involves regulating both internal feelings and outward expressions to conform to organizational expectations. The text provides various examples to illustrate how emotional labor is especially prevalent in service-oriented professions, where workers must display emotions such as cheerfulness, empathy, and calmness to enhance customer satisfaction. This labor is often gendered: Women bear a disproportionate burden.

The text explores “estrangement” as a state in which workers feel disconnected from their genuine emotions due to the demands of emotional labor. Such estrangement occurs when individuals must constantly manage and display emotions that they do not truly feel, leading to a sense of inauthenticity and alienation from their true selves. The author argues that this emotive dissonance, stemming from the conflict between felt emotions and those that a job role requires, can lead to psychological stress and burnout. Estrangement highlights the personal cost of commodifying emotions, emphasizing the need for better recognition and management of emotional labor’s impact on mental health.

The book introduces “feeling rules” as the socially shared norms that dictate the appropriate emotions to feel and express in specific situations. These rules guide individuals on how they should emotionally respond in various social contexts, such as feeling grateful at a gift or sorrowful at a funeral. The author explains that people internalize feeling rules through socialization, and societal expectations reinforce these rules, often leading individuals to manage or modify their emotions to conform. This regulation of emotions according to feeling rules is crucial in performing emotional labor because it requires that emotional displays align with social and professional demands.

The concept of the “status shield” in the book describes the protection that individuals of higher social status enjoy against the emotional abuses and demands of others. Those with lower status, such as service workers (particularly women) often lack this shield, which makes them more vulnerable to emotional exploitation and mistreatment. The text argues that the absence of a status shield forces these individuals to perform more emotional labor, managing not only their own feelings but also the emotions of others. This disparity exacerbates stress and emotional exhaustion, highlighting the inequities in how society distributes and values emotional labor across different social strata.