Books by Arlie Russell Hochschild

In private life, we try to induce or suppress love, envy, and anger through deep acting or "e;emotion work,"e; just as we manage our outer expressions of feeling through surface acting. In trying to bridge a gap between what we feel and what we "e;ought"e; to feel, we take guidance from "e;feeling rules"e; about what is owing to others in a given situation. Based on our private mutual understandings of feeling rules, we make a "e;gift exchange"e; of acts of emotion management. We bow to each other not simply from the waist, but from the heart.But what occurs when emotion work, feeling rules, and the gift of exchange are introduced into the public world of work? In search of the answer, Arlie Russell Hochschild closely examines two groups of public-contact workers: flight attendants and bill collectors. The flight attendant's job is to deliver a service and create further demand for it, to enhance the status of the customer and be "e;nicer than natural."e; The bill collector's job is to collect on the service, and if necessary, to deflate the status of the customer by being "e;nastier than natural."e; Between these extremes, roughly one-third of American men and one-half of American women hold jobs that call for substantial emotional labor. In many of these jobs, they are trained to accept feeling rules and techniques of emotion management that serve the company's commercial purpose.Just as we have seldom recognized or understood emotional labor, we have not appreciated its cost to those who do it for a living. Like a physical laborer who becomes estranged from what he or she makes, an emotional laborer, such as a flight attendant, can become estranged not only from her own expressions of feeling (her smile is not "e;her"e; smile), but also from what she actually feels (her managed friendliness). This estrangement, though a valuable defense against stress, is also an important occupational hazard, because it is through our feelings that we are connected with those around us.On the basis of this book, Hochschild was featured in Key Sociological Thinkers, edited by Rob Stones. This book was also the winner of the Charles Cooley Award in 1983, awarded by the American Sociological Association and received an honorable mention for the C. Wright Mills Award.

Arlie Russell Hochschild har med Tidsfælden lavet en tidstypisk sociologisk skildring af mennesker i et stort internationalt firma i USA. Hun har interviewet ansatte fra firmaets top til firmaets bund for at undersøge holdninger til arbejde, fritid og familieliv. Den pågældende virksomhed har en erklæret familievenlig personalepolitik. Ironien i denne erklæring er en arbejdsmoral, der ender med at fratage medarbejderne den tid, som burde være ”kvalitetstid” i hjemmet, og en arbejdsplads, som tilbyder et nyt ”surrogathjem”, hvor kollegerne er de nærmeste fortrolige, hvor den gode indsats påskønnes, og hvor alt fungerer effektivt og optimalt.Gennem sine levende portrætter af menneskers hjemmeliv og arbejdsliv viser professor Arlie Hochschild, hvordan tiden er blevet os frastjålet, og hvad dette tyveri har ført med sig: ”Vi har ikke tid til at være familie. Vi har ikke tid til vores børn”, skriver Arlie Hochschild, på basis af sine mange interviews. Det fører til, at børnene bliver emotionelt krævende pga. mangel på nærhed, ægtefæller bliver hinandens rationaliseringseksperter, og moderlighed er noget, man begynder at føle over for sine kolleger, snarere end over for sine børn. Vores hjem er blevet invaderet af normer fra arbejdslivet, gøremål nedskrives på små gule lapper og udføres uden overskud og lyst. Konflikten mellem arbejdsliv og hjemmeliv bliver mere og mere tilspidset, og mange vælger at resignere frem for at gøre noget for at ændre ved situationen.Tidsfælden er en bidende sociologisk og psykologisk kritik af det senmoderne liv, skrevet med indføling og hjertelighed af Arlie Hochschild, der nu er blevet kåret til æresprofessor ved Oslo Universitet. Hun er forfatter til flere bøger om arbejdslivet, bl.a. bogen The Second Shift.Tidsfælden udkom første gang på dansk i 2003 og genudgives nu i Hans Reitzels Forlags serie Klassikere.

Gathers some of the author's widely read articles. This book reflects on the complex negotiations we make day to day to juggle the conflicting demands of love and work.