The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling.

by Arlie Russell Hochschild

Review by: Theodore D. Kemper
American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 90, No. 6 (May, 1985), pp. 1368-1371
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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AmericanJournalof Sociology

the exclusive provinceof an elite (privateorchestras,daughterswho

could watercolor,formalgardens,and so forth)filtered down to themid-
dle classesand perhapseven lowerbytheend ofthe18thcentury.Taking
his argumentone step further, Plumb suggestsin his finalchapter,"The
Acceptanceof Modernity,"thattherewas a synergistic relationbetween
consumerismand the thingsconsumed;that the children'sbooks pub-
lishedin suchgreatnumberstowardtheend ofthecenturywereintended
to teach childrento accept modern,progressivevalues; and that the
practicesofdog breeding,choosinghybridseeds,or collectingcabinetsof
fossilsdid thesame fortheirelders.A neatconclusionthat,whichshould
convincehistorians(and perhaps sociologists)that thereis more to the
historyof the mundanethan usuallyfirstmeetsthe eye.
One does nothave to readveryfarintothisvolumeto realizethatin the
great debate between the optimistsand the pessimists,McKendrick,
Brewer,and Plumb alignthemselveswiththeoptimists.They are intent
on showingus that full-scaleindustrialization was the effect,not the
cause, of at least half-scaleconsumerismand that,on thewhole,people
werebetteroffafterand duringthantheywerebefore.Indeed,theyseem
to me to be implicitlysaying that those 20th-century pessimistswho
despisetheeffectsofindustrialization are thevictimsofbothmyopiaand
self-contempt. Yet, ironically,The Birthofa ConsumerSocietyis likely
to giveaid and comfort to someofthose(ifsuchtheybe) shortsighted self-
haters.This would includeespeciallythosewho have argued,as E. P.
Thompsondoes in The Making of the English WorkingClass, that the
secondhalfof the 18thcenturywas a kindof goldenage forsegmentsof
theEnglishartisanand laboringclasses,a periodin whichtheyhad both
financialsecurityand spendingpowerabove thewildestdreamsof their
predecessorsand, grievously,theirdescendants.McKendrickrefersto
thisnotiondisparagingly as the"prelapsarianmyth"(p. 30), perhapsnot
realizingthatin some significant sensehis own evidencegoes a longway
towardbolsteringit.

The Managed Heart: Commercializationof Human Feeling. By Arlie

Russell Hochschild.Berkeleyand Los Angeles:Universityof California
Press, 1983. Pp. xii+307. $14.95.

TheodoreD. Kemper
St. John'sUniversity

ArlieRussell Hochschildin The Managed Heart has writtentwo books

and mergedthemin a potpourriof text,footnotes, and appendices.One
book deals withairlineflightattendantsand, to a lesserextent,collection
agencydunnersas examplesof thecommercialization of emotionalman-
agementand display. The second book containsHochschild'stheoryof
emotions,some of whichwas publishedin thisJournalin 1979.
The firstbook arguesthat"emotionallabor" (i.e., "deep acting"in the

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 Book Reviews

managementof emotions)has emergedfromthe privatedomain. There

we do it out of deferencein ordinarysocial exchange,but now it is used
forprofit.Approximately one-thirdof the labor force,says Hochschild,
holdjobs requiringactivechangeofa spontaneousbut"deviant"emotion
intoone thatis normativein the givencontext.
Airlinesare particularlygood instancesoftheneed foremotionallabor
because theyoftenclaim to provide"good feelings"along witha ticket.
The mainpurveyorsofthesefeelingsare flightattendants,whosejob is to
assurethefearful,placate theirate,appease thedemanding,and disarm
the drunk,regardlessof how theythemselvesfeel.Worsestill,thecom-
panies (exemplifiedhere by Delta, which gave Hochschildaccess to its
flightattendanttrainingprogram)formulatetheverymethodsand tech-
niques of emotionwork that attendantsmust do to ensure that their
own truefeelings-fear,anger,disgust,and the like-do not inoppor-
tunelyleak out when theseare provokedby untowardair eventsor by
disgruntledor uncivilpassengers.The companyinstructsattendantsto
thinkof passengers"as iftheywereguestsin yourown home,"as fright-
ened, or as children.Hence attendantslearn to suppressunacceptable
emotionsby theseand otherstratagemsof deep acting.
The resultofthisemotionallabor,says Hochschild,"may"be estange-
mentfromone's own feelings.Puttingon "false,"that is, situationally
constructed,emotions,attendantsmay react against the false selfpre-
sentedin flight:forexample,thosewho use a "sexy"strategyto obtain
compliancemay turnup anorgasmic;thosewho use the Cub Scout den
motherapproachpresumablyrejectnurturing roles.If attendantsdo not
manipulatetheiremotionsto fitcompanypolicy,theyare ostensiblyprey
to yet otherpsychicassaults, such as feeling"phony"if the emotional
displayis merelythator becomingcynicaland detachingoneselffromthe
requirements of thejob.
As ifthiswere not bad enough,the real crunchforHochschildis that
the manipulationof emotionsis done forprofit.Such is capitalism.She
acknowledgesthatin socialiststatesthereis emotionallabortoo, butthis
insight is relegated to one unilluminatingsentence. According to
Hochschild,thesolutionis notto fieldsurlyattendantswho talkback and
take no guff.Rather,it is workercontrolover the conditionsof work,
includingthestrategiesofemotionmanagement.Indeed,EasternAirlines
and (nonunion)People Express have moved in that directionthrough
substantialratiosof workerownership.It would be interesting to com-
pare the psychiccostsof emotionallabor on such airlineswiththoseon
non-worker-owned lines.
Perhaps the most telling chapter of this firstbook is on gender.
Hochschild argues that women must do more emotionallabor than
men-even in the same jobs-because of women's lesser power and
statusand because of culturalascriptionof emotionalrolesand capabili-
ties to women. Her cogentpointis thatwhat appears to be a "natural"
difference betweenmen and women may actuallybe a social construc-
tion.

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AmericanJournalof Sociology

This firstbook is less compellingon the dangersof emotionallabor.

Althoughemotionalestrangement is proposedoftenenough,thereare
few data to supportsuch a conclusion.Even the quotationfroma sex
therapistwho has treated50 flightattendantsforvarioussexualproblems
is diceyindeed. There is no way to knowwhethertheproblemswerejob
induced, especiallywhethertheywere induced by the emotionallabor
component.Nor are we told whetherflightattendantsare morelikelyto
suffer fromtheseproblemsthanotherwomenofsimilarattributes whodo
not engagein similaremotionallabor.
The secondbook detailsHochschild'sown theoryof emotions.Famil-
iarly,it contraststhe "organismic"with her "interactionist" approach.
Organismictheorists,accordingto Hochschild,have an unacceptable
stancetowardsocial factorsin emotion:these"merely'trigger'biological
reactionsand help steerthe expressionof thesereactionsintocustomary
channels.[Per contra]in theinteractionist modelsocial factorsenterinto
theveryformulationofemotionsthroughcodification, management,and
expression"(p. 207). (Why is knowledgeof social triggeringmerely
"mere"?)
HithertoHochschildhas focusedon feelingrules,themostlyunspoken
normsthatpresumablytell us what to feelin givensituations,ergothat
determineemotionalmanagementneeds whenwe are in a stateof "emo-
tionaldeviance." Here she presentsa "new social theoryofemotions"(p.
218). It is indebtedin part to psychologist JudithKatz and is heavily
cognitive:fundamentally, emotionsignalsthe relationbetweenour prior
expectationof the worldand our currentapprehensionof it. Indeed, "to
name a feelingis . . . to label our perception"(p. 223).
But it is notthatsimple.In orderto geta gripon therelationbetween
expectationand apprehension,Hochschildproposesfivefacetsofpercep-
tual focus:"(1) what I want or like or am attachedto; (2) whatI now see
myselfas having; (3) what I approve or disapprove;(4) the perceived
causal agent of an eventor object; and (5) the relationof myselfto the
causal agent"(p. 225).
Withineach are numerousad hoc variants.For example,in the first
thereare past and presenttenses (and why not future?),discrepancy
betweenwant and have (and why not betweenhave and like?), what
someoneelse wants (thoughthe categoryis supposedlydevotedonlyto
the subject'swants,likes,and possessions),degreeof certainty of want-
ing, and so on. Similarmultiplesubstructions attach to the remaining
fourfacets.But thisis notyetall. Of the fivefacetsof perceptualfocus,
theactorpresumablycan holdat mosttwo at a time;otherfacetsprovide
"background. "
If thisseemsexceedinglycomplex,it is. Yet ifit accomplishesthetask
of "predicting"emotions,as Hochschild intends,why complain?The
answeris thattheoryis scienceand scienceis system;categoriesthatare
rungin ad hoc (forso it appears, because no evidenceis citedto warrant
theirinclusion)are not likelyto producean adequate theory.
In sum, the airlinebook is topicallyinformative, criticalof capitalism

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 Book Reviews

in a freshway, and illuminatingon the genderissue in emotions.The

thatdoes not fly.
secondbook is a construction

Inside PrimeTime. By Todd Gitlin.New York: PantheonBooks, 1983.

Pp. viii+372. $16.95.

Elihu Katz
Hebrew UniversityofJerusalemand UniversityofSouthernCalifornia

In his sharp critiqueof the Lazarsfeldiantraditionof communications

research("Media Sociology:The DominantParadigm,"Theoryand Soci-
ety6 [1978]: 205-53), Todd Gitlinarguesthat placingemphasison the
short-runeffectsof media messagesdivertsattentionfromthe institu-
tionalorder.A counterparadigm, says Gitlin,"could scrutinizethe 'cul-
tureindustry'as both social controland failed,muddled,privatizedre-
voltagainsttheexploitativeconditionsofworkand familyin theworldof
organized capitalism.... It could note the multiplicationof means forthe
engineering of consent,especiallyforCold War policies. It could study
the decision-making processesof soap manufacturers and soap-ad prop-
agatorsand soap-operaproducersas well as thatof soap consumers"(p.
107).
Inside PrimeTime is Gitlin'sturnat bat. It is an institutionalstudyof
thatwell-litcornerof the cultureindustrycalled televisionor, in faded
radicalchic,"thetelevision-industrial complex."It setsoutto explainto a
generalaudiencebut also to colleagueshow and whytelevisionprograms
get on, and stay on, the air. It seems fair-if not quite affectivelyneu-
tral-to ask how the counterparadigmstands up, theoreticallyand
methodologically.
1. The studyis based on over 200 informal,colorful,gossipyinter-
views withtelevisionexecutives,writers,and agents. The book quotes
elaboratelyfromthis galaxy,whom Gitlinpronouncesmoreinteresting
thantheirproducts.The quotationsare all attributedby name, approv-
ingly.Indeed, the book is an almostphenomenological anthropology in
whichtheprincipalsare invitedto offertheirperceptionsoftheworkings
oftheirworld,itsrelationshipto theworldoutside,and theethnologicof
theiractions.Gitlin'svoice is onlydimlyheard,as ifto tellus thatmostof
thecriticaltheoryhe mighthave spokenis said just as well from"inside."
The propheticcode ofthe 1978essayhas givenway to thecode ofthetalk
show. Gitlinis a sociologistwho can writewell and entertainingly; the
resultis like a UniversalStudiosTour of decisionmaking.
2. Altogether absentis anytraceofcomparisonwithotherbroadcast-
ing systems.In 1978, GitlincomplainedthatAmericancommunications
research"is not interestedin the structuraland culturalconsequencesof
different modelsof communication ownership"(p. 105). Neitheris Gitlin
in 1983. If the faultof Americantelevisionderivesfroman oligopolistic
institutionalstructurein whichcompetition is orientedto deliveringvery

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