Emotional Labour in the Nonprofit Social Services: An Australian-Canadian

Exploration

Donna BainesDonna BainesLabour Studies & Social WorkLabour Studies & Social Work

McMaster UniversityMcMaster University

Emotional labourEmotional labour

►Arlie Hochschild (1983)Used to control & speed up service Used to control & speed up service

interactionsinteractions

►Oppressive in most service work(Bolton & Boyd, 2005; (Bolton & Boyd, 2005; Taylor & Tyler, 2000; Taylor & Tyler, 2000; Leidner, 1999; Leidner, 1999; ))

►Source of meaning in care work ((Henderson, 2001; Boyd, 2000; Shuler and Sypher, 2000)Henderson, 2001; Boyd, 2000; Shuler and Sypher, 2000)

“My best experiences happened when clients came back to show me that they had done well, and to maybe laugh and cry about what they’d been through and what we’d done together.

They usually try to thank me for being someone who cared about them and took the time to get to know them and really listen. I tell them I don’t want thanks, I have all the thanks I need in just seeing them do so well.”

Masculinised Model of Masculinised Model of Emotional LabourEmotional Labour ((Lewis, 2005; Bolton, 2005, Maconachie, 2005; Guy, Newman and Mastracci, Lewis, 2005; Bolton, 2005, Maconachie, 2005; Guy, Newman and Mastracci, 2008)2008)

►prescriptive-prescriptive-professionalprofessional

►NPM = NPM = tightly tightly quantified, quantified, standardized standardized emotion emotion managementmanagement

Managing your own and other people’s disappointment

►When you deal with other people’s emotional health and dreams all day, it is a very intimate thing you carry around with you, a very intimate bunch of information and expectations.

►Not being able to meet these expectations, let alone your own, is probably one of the most stressful things around. It gets you at an intimate level.

Feminized Model of Feminized Model of Emotional LabourEmotional Labour

► philanthropic-gift model

► open-ended, unscripted,

relationship based

► resistance uses pre-NPM, more participatoryprocesses of emotionalconnection and mutual

participation

ResistanceResistance►“getting back and

getting by” (Nichols &

Armstrong, 1976)

►minor infractions of

the rules

►open advocacy for change (Burawoy, 1979; Friedman, 1977; Lee-

Treweek,1997)

►Social Service workers tend to identify with agency mission

►Target gov’t & society, not just employers

►Self exploit as resistance (Baines, 2007, 2004; Smith, 2007)

“Most of us are here because we want to work with people in not just in a way that makes a difference, but in a different way.

We don’t want to just fill in reports and push paper …We want to work in a way that empowers people and challenges systems that harm people.

We want to organize with the community to take control back, not just put band aids on a few of the more obvious victims.”

Nonprofit Social ServicesNonprofit Social Services

►Outside of Outside of market and market and governmentgovernment

►Provides a Provides a range of range of servicesservices

►Growing Growing convergence with convergence with market, gov’t & market, gov’t & voluntary sectorvoluntary sector New Public Mgmt & New Public Mgmt &

Performance MeasuresPerformance Measures Standardizes, Speeds Standardizes, Speeds

Up Up Removes Discretion, Removes Discretion,

Activism & Collective Activism & Collective ForumsForums

To this point:To this point:►Social service workers identify with Social service workers identify with

mission and social justice; mission and social justice; NPM work NPM work organizationorganization removes/limits these removes/limits these aspectsaspects

►Workers find workplace meaning in Workers find workplace meaning in relationships with clients, relationships with clients, communities and each other communities and each other (emotional labour)(emotional labour)

►Workers self exploit as Workers self exploit as resistanceresistance

What do they do to resist? What do they do to resist? WITHIN AND OUTSIDE OF PAID WITHIN AND OUTSIDE OF PAID

WORKWORK► . . ► encourage clients to advocate for themselves even when

it involved risk to the worker► bend rules ► look for ways to get clients all they are entitled to and

more► do unpaid, volunteer work in their own agencies and

others► organize service user groups ► build coalitions ► provide new services for free► use their unions as vehicles for social justice ► (including: ending the war in Iraq, campaign for an end

to queer bashing, demanding care for homeless people, challenging funding cuts and opposing sexism, racism and homophobia, working to end poverty

Righting the balance between work and

mission►Doing things they can no longer

do on the job (or never could)► Regaining autonomy, control,

constructing their own meanings►Target their employers as well as

larger uncaring society

Convergence v. Particularity

► Managerial models in private and nonprofit sectors

(Evans and Shields, 2002;Considine, 2002; Baines, 2004, 2006;

Cunningham,2008)

► Resistance is unique to logics and ideology of the sector

► To care► To participate with others

(collectivity)► To create and sustain

relationships► To make social justice► To undertake unpaid

work when they choose► To push the boundaries

of social unions

ResistanceResistance► Is replete with Is replete with

emotional labour emotional labour because workers because workers want it that waywant it that way

► More than a More than a feminized gift-modelfeminized gift-model

► A gift-solidarity model Reciprocity Mutual participation