Emotional reflexivity in the time of Covid-19

Working-class emotional practices

Bibliographic Data

ID13131981
AuthorsMary Holmes (0000-0001-5217-713X, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author), Rebecca Thomson (University of Edinburgh)
Year2022
Volume5
Issue2
Pages202-219
Publication date2022-12-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEmotions and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2631-6900 • E-ISSN: 2631-6897
PublisherBristol University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1332/263168922x16680946441057
OpenAlexW4312133951
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited42

We share findings from a qualitative study on emotions in Scottish working-class households during lockdown. The results challenge existing research focused on emotional capital, which often suggests that working-class people struggle to provide emotional resources to those close to them. Using the concept of emotional reflexivity we show how these household members cared for each other’s feelings, challenging deficit views of working-class emotionality. This research offers a novel understanding of working-class participants collaboratively making space for each other to feel, many favouring acts of care rather than talking. The COVID-19 lockdown, however, tended to reinforce gendered practices of emotion work, although some participants drew on emotional support beyond the household to try to mitigate this burden. The emotionally reflexive practices seen in these households suggest that sustaining more equality in emotional wellbeing relies on navigating material circumstances, is not always about verbal sharing, is often an interactional achievement, but also means resisting unrealistic expectations of intimate relationships within households as the fountainhead of all emotional succour

Burnout · Class (philosophy · Developmental psychology · Emotion work · Emotional exhaustion · Emotional labor · Emotional well-being · Emotionality · Feeling · Political science · Politics · Reflexivity · Sociology · Working class · Clinical Psychology · Emotional Labor in Professions · Employment and Welfare Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges

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Open DOIOpen Access