Research On The Emotional Labor Process Of Social Workers

Emotional labour is one of the main forms of labour for social workers.The nature of social work requires social workers to engage in a great deal of emotional involvement in the process of service delivery.However,emotions have been neglected in China for a long time.The study of social workers’ emotional work lacks a holistic and systematic approach.This article seeks to present a holistic view of the emotional labour of social workers within a local emotional system.Specifically,it covers the production,manifestation and impact of social workers’ emotional labour.The paper re-examines the characteristics of local emotional labour and responses to and reconfigures the orientation and development of social workers’ emotional labour.This paper adopts a qualitative research design and uses purposive sampling to select 13 social workers in Shanghai’s S district for data collection in the form of in-depth interviews.The data were analysed and collated using a three-level coding method,leading to the following conclusions: Firstly,the emotional labour of social workers is spawned by multiple emotional regimes.These emotional institutional rules are reinforced through organisational and socialisation acquisition.These include the ethical values and professional codes of the professional system,the tendency towards emotionally flexible governance in the governance system,and the modification of the field in the work system.And social workers are subject to these emotional regimes in their practice.Secondly,the emotional labour of social workers is highly contextualised.The emotional work of social workers can be divided into routine and non-routine emotional work practices.Depending on the objectives of the service,there are positive emotional expressions,such as respect and empathy,and negative emotional expressions,such as clarification and confrontation.The emotional work of social workers can be divided into routine and non-routine emotional work practices.Social workers’ emotional expressions are diverse,ranging from positive ones,such as respect and empathy,to negative ones,such as clarification and confrontation,depending on the service objectives.The emotional work of social workers in local contexts is a semi-professional practice of emotional work based on human feelings,which is characterised by the ability to adapt to changes,to be rounded on the outside and different on the inside.In addition,the performance of emotional labour is also influenced by the individual aspects of the social worker.Again,the outcome of emotional work is highly correlated with the level of emotional engagement of the social worker.A moderate amount of emotional labour helps to facilitate the service,while an excessive amount of emotional labour does more harm than good to both social workers and clients.Finally,there are three approaches to further the development of emotional labour among social workers.The emotional labor of social workers can also have a positive impact on public emotions.Finally,we can help promote the development of social workers’ emotional labor from three aspects: returning to a humanistic professional regime,enhancing the emotional care of the work system and seeking the authentic self of the social worker.This paper explores,responds to and reflects on the social nature of social workers’ emotional work and the tension between ’emotion’ and ’rationality’ within emotional labour.The dissertation draws on the emotional regime to analyse the emotional labour processes of social workers.It remedies the superficiality of existing quantitative research findings and provides a deeper insight into the emotional labour practices of social workers.It also provides a theoretical response to the emotional factors in social work practice and further promotes the development of the local social work profession.