Emotional labor: Advancing our public administration classroom

• Published in: Journal of public affairs education : J-PAE. Vol. ahead-of-print; no. ahead-of-print; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: Rinfret, Sara, Wise, Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Routledge 02.04.2024; National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration
• Subjects: Core Curriculum; Curricula; Emotional labor; Labor; Management; Pilot projects; Public administration; public administration foundation course; semester project; Students
• ISSN: 1523-6803; 2328-9643
• DOI: 10.1080/15236803.2023.2229192

Public administration courses often use the pillars of public administration (e.g., efficiency, effectiveness, equity, economy, accountability, responsiveness) as foundational concepts across our core curriculum. However, our public administration curriculum is alarmingly absent of conversations about emotional labor. Put simply, emotional labor is emotion management and life management combined, which is unpaid, invisible work we do to keep those around us happy (Rinfret et al., 2022). In this paper we detail a semester-long research project focused on emotional labor, and why it is necessary for how we work in a diverse and changing workforce. Our pilot study examines original data collected during the spring and summer 2022 to document the experiences of 36 students enrolled in a core public administration course. The findings illustrate that using the emotional labor project (ELP) provides opportunities for us to engage in conversation with our students to change the narrative in our discipline and practice.