Digging Into The Commercialization Of The Emotional Feelings Behind Labor
Advisor: Joe Haines
Internship Location: F-1 Visa Holder / No Placement
Onsite Mentor: F-1 Visa Holder / No Placement
My project investigates how emotional labor—the management and commercialization of feeling as part of paid work—operates across different labor contexts and how it shapes workers’ identities, well-being, and sense of authenticity . While existing research often focuses on customer-facing service jobs, my project addresses a gap by examining emotional labor in less visible forms of work, including cleaning and factory labor. Building on my previous field research with female factory workers in Myanmar, my project expects to reveal that emotional labor extends beyond scripted friendliness to include endurance, suppression, and emotional invisibility. By expanding the definition of emotional labor across class, gender, and cultural boundaries, my research will contribute a more inclusive framework to sociological and labor studies. The significance of this research is making invisible emotional costs more visible and inspiring discussions about workplace recognition, mental health, and fairness in labor practices.
Project Blog
Post 1: Introduction
My interest in emotional labor began a long time ago. While conducting field research with female factory workers in Myanmar, I noticed that the hardest part of their work was not always physical exhaustion. It was the silence behind the constant emotional restraint. Later, when studying American social movements and workplace inequalities in Barnard in summer, I began to see that emotional expectations are everywhere, especially for women and low-wage workers. However, they are rarely acknowledged as “real” labor.
This realization brought me to this project: I want to understand how emotional labor operates across different kinds of work, not just in visible service roles, but also in other overlooked spaces. Through my project, I hope to explore how corporations package emotion as part of productivity and professionalism and what that does to workers’ self-worth. Also, I hope this project pushes me out of my comfort zone. I want to produce work that makes invisible labor visible. Ultimately, I hope to leave this project with a deeper understanding of how emotion, power, and dignity intersect in everyday work—and how we might imagine fairer ways of recognizing emotional effort.
Week 1: Blog - Emotional Labor
This week, I focused on researching the concept of emotional labor. I spent time reading several articles and background materials to better understand how scholars define emotional labor and where the idea came from. I also started organizing my notes and identifying key themes that might help guide my project. While doing this research, I tried to pay attention to how emotional labor appears in everyday situations, especially in service environments where workers interact directly with customers.
One of the most interesting things I learned is that emotional labor means the process of managing one’s emotions in order to meet the expectations of a job. Many workers are required to be friendly, patient, and calm, even when they may not actually feel that way when they are working. This made me realize how much emotional work happens in daily interactions that people often overlook. I also learned that this type of labor is especially common in service jobs like waiters, where employees are expected to maintain a certain attitude as part of their role.
From this week’s reading, I better understood the concept and application of emotional labor in real life. Next week, I will continue to work on more readings about emotional labor in different contexts, such as teaching, serving, and physical labor.
Source:
Grandey, Alicia A. “Emotion Regulation in the Workplace: A New Way to Conceptualize Emotional Labor.” Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, vol. 5, no. 1, 2000, pp. 95–110.
Week 2: Research Preparation
This week, I continued making progress on my senior project investigating the commercialization of emotional labor behind various forms of work. Building on my previous literature review, I learned more about the key theories about emotional labor. I especially focused on emotional labor's presence in non-customer-facing jobs such as factory work and cleaning. Reading this week connects closely to my earlier field research with female factory workers in Myanmar and strengthens the theoretical foundation of my project.
At the same time, I completed the full draft of my online survey and developed a structured guide for my upcoming semi-structured interviews. I designed specific questions to explore emotional suppression, endurance, and the invisible emotional efforts that are often ignored in traditional research. I also revised the survey to ensure it is clear and suitable for participants from different working backgrounds.
This week’s work made me even more aware that emotional labor exists widely across all types of jobs but is rarely recognized or valued. Next week, I will officially launch the survey and start recruiting participants to collect real data for my analysis.
Week 3: Blog: Interviews
This week, I conducted semi-structured interviews with several workers at my dad’s factory, which produces electronic device parts. At first, I thought emotional labor would mostly relate to being friendly or interacting with customers. However, what I found was much less obvious. The workers explained that they are not only expected to “act nice,” but also expected to control their emotions in more quiet ways like hiding their feelings and avoiding conflicts.
Many workers described an expectation for them from their boss that even if sometimes they feel bad, they should not show it and should continue working as usual. One worker mentioned that “if you argue back, it just creates more problems,” so staying quiet is often the better choice. Others said that while they might complain privately with coworkers, they act differently in front of managers. This shows that emotional control is still an important part of their job, even if it is not officially required.
Through this week’s interviews, I realize that emotional labor is not only shown in service jobs, but also in factory settings where it is less visible.
Week 4: Follow-Up Interviews
This week, I conducted follow-up interviews with several workers at my dad’s factory to better understand how emotional labor actually happens in real situations. Instead of only asking general questions, I asked them to describe specific moments when they had to control or hide their emotions. Many of their answers show that emotional labor is not something obvious, but something they deal with daily as a habit.
For example, one worker described a time when a machine kept breaking, and the supervisor blamed the workers. Even though he felt really frustrated, he just said “okay” and continued working, because“if you argue, it only makes more trouble.” Another worker said that during busy times, even if they feel stressed, they cannot show it and just have to work faster, otherwise it looks like you are not cooperating.
When I asked what happens if someone does not control their emotions, most people said there may not be direct punishment, but supervisors will remember, which is “not good for you later.” Over time, many workers said they complain less and just accept it. This shows that emotional labor is not only about controlling feelings, but also about learning how to adapt and “read the situation” in the workplace.
Post 6: Blog #5 - Patterns from responses
This week, instead of only collecting more interviews, I started to look back at the responses I already got and tried to find patterns. I found that emotional labor in the factory is not something obvious like “acting nice,” but more like a habit of staying silent and controlling reactions over time.
One pattern I noticed is that many workers do not express their emotions even when they feel frustrated or unfairly treated. For example, when machines break or supervisors blame them, they often just accept it instead of arguing. It is not because they agree, but because they think speaking up will only create more problems. Another pattern is that emotional control is connected to pressure from the workplace. Workers mentioned that even without direct punishment, supervisors will “remember,” which makes them more careful about how they act.
This made me realize that emotional labor here is less about showing emotions and more about hiding them. It is also something workers gradually learn, like understanding when to speak and when to stay quiet. In this way, emotional labor sounds more invisible, but also more constant. This labor shapes how workers act everyday without being clearly identified as part of their job.
Week 6: More Thoughts on Emotional Labor
This week I didn’t really collect new interviews. I went back to what people said before and tried to think more about why they act like that. Last week I said workers usually stay silent, but now I feel like it’s not just a habit, it’s more about the situation they are in.
A lot of workers actually know it’s unfair sometimes, but they still don’t say anything. It’s not because they don’t care, it’s more like they don’t think speaking up will help. One worker told me if you argue, it just makes things worse, and the supervisor might remember you later. This “being remembered” thing is kind of interesting, because it’s not a direct punishment, but it still affects how people behave.
So I feel like emotional labor here is not really about “acting nice,” but more about holding things in. It’s kind of like a way to protect yourself. After a while, people just get used to it and stop reacting. This made me think that emotional labor is not only personal, but also shaped by the workplace. Even if no one says it directly, there are still rules that everyone understands.
Week 7: Follow-up Questions
This week I didn’t try to interview a lot of new people. Instead, I went back to a few workers I already talked to and asked more follow-up questions. I wanted to understand not just what they do, but why they react in certain ways.
When I asked why they don’t speak up, most of them said it’s not worth it. One worker told me that even if you say something, nothing really changes, and it might even make your situation worse. Another said that after working for a long time, you kind of learn what is “safe” to say and what is not. So it’s not like they don’t have feelings, it’s more like they choose to control them. At the same time, I started organize my notes and noticed some repeated ideas. Words like “endure,” “no choice,” and “just get used to it” came up a lot. This made me feel like emotional labor here is not something special or occasional, but something very normal in their daily work.
Compared to before, I feel like I’m starting to see a clearer pattern, not just individual stories but something more shared across different workers.
Week 8: Workplace Identity
This week, from looking back at my findings from the survey, something that surprised me is that, a lot of people said they feel like a different person when they are working. Before that, I was thinking that emotional labor is mostly about controlling feelings, like not talking back or staying quiet. But now I feel it's deeper than that. Some workers said they become more careful, more obedient, or even try to make themselves “invisible.” It’s not just hiding emotions in one moment, but more like slowly changing how they act all the time. Especially for factory or cleaning work, they don’t need to smile like service workers, but they still need to adjust themselves to fit the job. This makes me think emotional labor is not only about what you show, but also about how work can change you. After some time, the way you act at work kind of becomes normal, and maybe you don’t even notice the difference anymore.
Week 10: Blog: Thematic Coding
This week, I focused on putting more details into my thematic coding. I grouped different sub-themes under bigger themes like emotional suppression, power, invisibility, and identity. Then I counted how many times each sub-theme appears across the participants. One thing that surprised me is how dominant emotional suppression is. Out of 15 participants, 22 times the sub-themes related to suppression was mentioned
Also, I noticed that suppression often appears together with power. For example, many workers said they don’t speak up because they are afraid of being blamed or getting into trouble. This shows that how significant influence workplace structure has brought to emotional labors.
Another interesting pattern is identity change. Some workers mentioned becoming more obedient or feeling like a different person at work. This makes me think that emotional labor can affect people in a long-term way, not just in one moment.