What's the problem?

A psychotherapist recounts stories of emotional exhaustion and its social causes.

On-demand workers end up performing outsize amounts of what sociologists call “emotional labor,” or expressive work to make the customer experience a positive one so that users come back to the platform. This work extends beyond good customer service: It involves actively reshaping a worker’s inner emotional life to conform to employers’ and customers’ expectations of emotional performance.

A counter to many recent articles that tries to recenter the conversation about emotional labor onto issues of patriarchy.

Seminal article from the now-defunct The Toast on how emotional labor is and expected and unpaid aspect of women's roles.

As a bro-y yet sensitive guy who cares about gender equality, I’ve always been apprehensive about entering the fray on gender issues. But in a #MeToo world, choosing to stay in my lane to avoid being criticized just doesn’t feel like an option. Deep inside, I knew this was a conversation that I needed to be a part of. And so began the laborious act of understanding emotional labor—and now I’m convinced that this is a conversation everyone needs to be a part of.

The concept of emotional labor, introduced by Hochschild in 1983, refers to the “process by which workers are expected to manage their feelings in accordance with organizationally defined rules and guidelines”. For instance, judges are expected to appear impartial, nurses—compassionate and police officers—authoritative.

Much of the conversation around diversity presupposes that people are not always consistent in what they believe. While a person may work to consciously believe in racial equality--for example, due to their upbringing, friendships, experiences, or any number of factors--they may unconsciously carry around negative associations and stereotypes about a particular group.

But how can we recognize what our own biases are?

Tracey Ross discusses the many ways people of color are marginalized in the supposedly "meritocratic" tech world, including basic access to technology, pattern matching at venture capital firms, and more. 

Shanley Kane discusses the perils of becoming visible on the internet for marginalized people in tech. 

This article shares a lot of fundamental concepts and resources for those wanting to be better allies.