Keeping Company
Exploring the Positive Dimensions of Emotional Labor in China's Pei Liao Industry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19220883 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Manchun Du (University of Cambridge), Ryan G Hornbeck (0000-0002-2893-1750, Wenzhou-Kean University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology of Work Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0883-024X • E-ISSN: 1548-1417 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/awr.70024 |
| OpenAlex | W7163143198 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
This article examines positive dimensions of emotional labor through ethnographic fieldwork on paid online companionship in China's pei liao industry. We argue that dominant concepts in emotional labor research outside anthropology have limited the extent to which emotional labor's brighter possibilities can be recognized—specifically, by framing it as inherently self‐deceptive, overlooking workers' interactional skill in shaping encounters, and relying on static models of the self. Drawing on participant observation and in‐depth interviews with pei liao workers, we address these limitations by introducing “identity positioning” as both an analytic concept and an observed interactional strategy. Identity positioning refers to the deliberate selection and foregrounding of role‐, group‐, and trait‐based identities that are already meaningful to workers, rather than the suppression or reworking of inner feelings, as a means of building rapport with clients. We then show that identity positioning's positive outcomes may arise through two pathways: it can enable workers to engage and develop identities that are acknowledged yet underdeveloped in their repertoire, and to elaborate already salient identities into distinct variants through interactions with different clients
Emotional labor · Ethnography · Foregrounding · Framing (construction) · Identity (music) · Narrative · Participant observation · Salient · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Emotional Labor in Professions
Identity and Symbolic Interaction
Personal Agency in the Accumulation of Multiple Role-Identities
Identity Theory
Seeking Emotional Labor
Emotional Labor and Burnout
The impact of emotional labor on mental health
Virtually boyfriends
Identity Theory
The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies
The bright side of emotional labor
Understanding the emotional labor process
Emotions and Identity Nonverification
Work at Leisure and Leisure at Work
Temporarily Yours
After Love
Multiple Identities and Psychological Well-Being
The emotional ambiguities of healthcare professionals' platform experiences
The degradation of work and the end of the skilled emotion worker at Aer Lingus
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |