Uncompensated emotional labor, racial battle fatigue, and (in)civility in digital spaces
Abstract
Emotional labor was originally theorized by Arlie Hochschild in the context of domestic labor. Since her early theorization, popular culture and social scientists have adopted the term to refer to emotion work that is exhibited in a manner of financially compensated social settings. Emotional labor refers to the process by which individuals are expected to conform to a set of societal guidelines, ensuring that their emotions conform to that performance. As the use of social media grows, emotional labor plays an increasing role in the lives of people of color—across media platforms. We frame the ever‐present negotiation involved in racialized interactions online as a type of uncompensated emotional labor that results in racial battle fatigue. Next, we position emotional labor as an intrinsic part of the experience for social media users of color because digital media is by default a White, racialized space. Lastly, we argue that current research on civility does not account for the emotional labor of people of color. We offer an original view of uncompensated emotional labor that is inclusive of cross‐platform, racialized emotional labor that can result in racial battle fatigue.
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Even in the face of direct discrimination, People of Color often feel they must work to hide their fatigue or irritation in order to remain unthreatening to white people.
“According to Williams et al. (2019) even in the face of direct discrimination, People of Color often feel they must work to hide their fatigue or irritation in order to remain unthreatening to white people.”
From The Emergence of Racialized Labor and Racial Battle Fatigue in the African American Student Network (AFAM) (2020) · cites this paper as Williams et al., 2019
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- Authors
- Williams, A. A., Bryant, Z., & Carvell, C.
- Affiliations
- Susquehanna University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Williams, Apryl A.
- ORCID
- Williams, Apryl A.
- Venue
- Sociology Compass
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-01-07
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 1751-9020 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2909546283
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 4.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Sociology Compass (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Emotional Labor in Professions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Race, History, and American Society
- Keywords
- racial battle fatigue, civility, digital space, social media, people of color, emotional labor
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