FREE ESSAY ON THE UNMANAGED HEART

THE UNMANAGED HEART

George Rusinak Graves
Essay 9\16\99
The Managed Heart: Emotional Management vs. Emotional Labor
Can a person's heart be controlled? Do all people go have some form of emotional
management or emotional labor in their lives? In the book, The Managed Heart, written by
Arlie Hochschild , discusses the issues of emotional labor and emotional management. In
the book, it describes the difference between the two issues and gives Hochschild's
opinion on those issues.
The first issue is emotional management. This is where the fight attendants learn how to
deal with certain situations that they might encounter. Basically, they are taught to
manage their emotions and look at their situation from the other side. By doing this, the
flight attendants can create a happy and more comfortable setting for the passengers. On
page 113 in the book, it states that the fight attendants should imagine a reason to
excuse an obnoxious or unruly passenger. This is what Delta teaches: emotional
management. 
The other issue is emotional labor. The use of emotional management is emotional labor.
They flight attendants use surface acting in everyday work life. They are there to make
the passenger feel comfortable and happy. This is a cover sheet for the flight attendants
emotions. They are in a way bottling up their feelings to produce another feeling. The
problem with emotional labor and surface acting are they become a part of that person.
Hochschild thinks that this is a bad thing because one will never break away from the
emotional labor and in turn have trouble expressing their inner feelings, (deep acting)
in their private lives.
In summary, emotional management is emotional labor. Emotional management is the learning
how to deal with situations. Emotional labor is the actual use of the emotional
management. Learning emotional management is helpful, but can affect that person's
lifestyle. When they use emotional labor, they are hiding their inner feelings to create
are better atmosphere for others. People using this might never be able to distinguish
the difference between their surface acting and deep acting. Hochschild's sees this as a
problem for the people affected by this emotion manipulator. This will affect their
friend's, family, and the rest of society.
Bibliography
Hockschild,The Unmanaged Heart, conseni 1978.