Abstract

The study of emotional labor in traditional and low-cost luxury hotels has highlighted the existence of a sexual and ethnic/racial division of work which is accompanied by emotional performance shaped by professional ethos and customer expectations. Whereas male workers can develop strategies to maximize their benefits or to circumvent feeling rules, consolidating their professional status, the emotional labor of female workers is characterized by considerable ambivalence. Their skills are banalized, considered normal for women. Furthermore, despite black workers being excluded from interaction with customers, their resistance is manifested through emotions such as anger, resentment, and jealousy. This essay demonstrates the usefulness of an approach involving the analysis of emotional labor and professional status in services that is not limited to the study of the interaction between customers and workers. The management of others' negative emotions amplifies the intensity of the emotional labor of workers who interact with customers, thus contributing to the weakening of their professional status.