Part of the book series:Association for Women in Mathematics Series ((AWMS,volume 18))
429Accesses
1Citation
Abstract
Terms such as “affective labor” and “emotional labor” pepper feminist critiques of the workplace. Though there are theoretical nuances between the two phrases, both kinds of labor involve the management of emotions; some acts associated with these constructs involve caring, listening, comforting, reassuring, and smiling. In this article I explore the different ways academic mathematicians are called to provide emotional labor in the discipline, thereby illuminating a rarely visible component of a mathematical life in the academy. Underlying this work is my contention that a conceptualization of labor involved in managing emotions is of value to the project of understanding the character, values, and boundaries of such a life. In order to investigate the various dimensions of emotional labor in the context of academic mathematics, I extend the basic framework of Morris and Feldman (Acad. Manag. Rev. 21:986–1010, 1996) and then apply this extended framework to the mathematical sciences. Other researchers have mainly focused on the negative effects of emotional labor on a laborer’s physical, emotional, and mental health, and several examples in this article align with this framing. However, at the end of the article, I argue that mathematical communities and mentoring structures such as EDGE help diminish some of the negative aspects of emotional labor while also accentuating the positives.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts both “diplomat” and “mathematician” in the “professional” category, yet the emotional labor of a diplomat is crucial to his work whereas that of a mathematician is not.
This is a preview of subscription content,log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Subscribe and save
- Get 10 units per month
- Download Article/Chapter or eBook
- 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
- Cancel anytime
Buy Now
- Chapter
- JPY 3498
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
- eBook
- JPY 8007
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
- Softcover Book
- JPY 10009
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
- Hardcover Book
- JPY 14299
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Here for reference is the official job description the United States government provides: mathematicians “conduct research in fundamental mathematics or in application of mathematical techniques to science, management, and other fields,” seehttps://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes152021.htm, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
- 2.
This is not to claim that mathematicians are disembodied workers. When I had a minor shoulder injury and had visions of not being able to use the chalk board for several weeks, or during that stressful time when I lost my voice unexpectedly, I very clearly noted the physical aspects of my role in the academy.
- 3.
I am by no means suggesting that this is a desirable situation; nor am I asserting that this is a choice made by individual instructors. It is often the case that certain faculty find themselves in these situations. It is my belief that nobody should be forced to do more emotional labor than they are willing to do. Unfortunately, faculty from minoritized groups often face the dilemma of either doing the extra emotional work and not being respected for it or rejecting doing the extra emotional work and then suffering the consequences of that decision.
- 4.
This certainly applies to other service work, such as my editing work with Khadjavi on [23,24] and K-12 outreach activities of various mathematicians; see, for instance, [49]. Similarly blogging and hosting other networking sites is a valuable service contribution, where most of the time people who do the needed work engage in it because of political and ethical goals. See in particular the e-Mentoring Network mentioned above as well as the inclusion/exclusion blog of the American Mathematical Society, available athttps://blogs.ams.org/inclusionexclusion/.
References
American Immigration Council,Foreign-born STEM Workers in the United States, factsheet available athttps://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/foreign-born-stem-workers-united-states, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
American Mathematical Society (AMS),About the Mathematics Research Communities Program, available athttp://www.ams.org/programs/research-communities/mrc, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM),Research Networks, available athttps://awmadvance.org/research-networks/, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
Susan A. Basow and Nancy T. Silberg, “Student Evaluations of College Professors: Are Female and Male Professors Rated Differently?”,Journal of Educational Psychology, Volume79 Number 3 (1987), pages 308–314.
Marcia L. Bellas, “Emotional Labor in Academia: The Case of Professors”, pages 96–110 in [38].
Heidi Berger, “The Upside of Down Syndrome: Math is My Superpower!”,Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume8 Issue 2 (July 2018), pages 30–37. Available athttps://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol8/iss2/6, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
Mark Boylan, “Emotionality and relationship in teaching mathematics: a praxis of embodiment and uncertainty”,For the Learning of Mathematics, Volume35 Number 1 (March 2015), pages 41–42.
Sarah Bryant and Alejandra Alvarado, “A Mathematician’s Journey From Mentee to Mentor: Reflections on the EDGE Program,”Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume7 Issue 2 (July 2017), pages 394–400. Available at:http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol7/iss2/21, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
Building Diversity in Science (BDIS),Infinite Possibilities Conference, available athttp://www.diversityinscience.org/infinite-possibilities-conference/, last accessed on June 10, 2019. Also seehttps://mathinstitutes.org/diversity/infinite-possibilities/.
Sarah Rose Cavanagh,The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion, West Virginia University Press, Morgantown WV, 2016.
Neal Chalofsky, “An emerging construct for meaningful work”,Human Resource Development International, Volume6 Issue 1 (2003), pages 69–83.
Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE),The EDGE Program: Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education, available athttps://www.edgeforwomen.org, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
Amani El-Alayli, Ashley A. Hansen-Brown, and Michelle Ceynar, “Dancing Backwards in High Heels: Female Professors Experience More Work Demands and Special Favor Requests, Particularly from Academically Entitled Students”,Sex Roles, Volume79 (2018), pages 136–150.
Cynthia D. Fisher and Neal M. Ashkanasy, “The emerging role of emotions in work life: an introduction”,Journal of Organizational Behavior, Volume21 (2000), pages 123–129.
Julie Glass and Gizem Karaali, “Matching Kids to Schools: The School Choice Problem”, inMathematics for Social Justice: Resources for the College Classroom, edited by G. Karaali and L.S. Khadjavi (Classroom Resource Materials Volume 60, MAA Press: An Imprint of the American Mathematical Society, 2019), pages 155–170.
Alicia A. Grandey, James M. Diefendorff, and Deborah E. Rupp, editors,Emotional Labor in the 21stCentury: Diverse Perspectives on Emotion Regulation at Work, Routledge, New York, 2013.
Cassandra M. Guarino and Victor M. H. Borden, “Faculty Service Loads and Gender: Are Women Taking Care of the Academic Family?”,Research in Higher Education, Volume58 (2017), pages 672–694.
Sandra Harding, “The Instability of the Analytical Categories of Feminist Theory”,Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Volume11 Number 4 (Summer 1986), pages 645–664.
Michael Hardt, “Affective Labor”,boundary 2, Volume26 Number 2 (Summer, 1999), pages 89–100.
Piper Harron, “On Contradiction”,Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume8 Number 2 (July 2018), pages 199–207. Available at:http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol8/iss2/22, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
Arlie Russell Hochschild,The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1983/2003/2012.
Gizem Karaali, “On Genius, Prizes, and the Mathematical Celebrity Culture”,The Mathematical Intelligencer, Volume37 Issue 3 (2015), pages 61–65.
Gizem Karaali and Lily S. Khadjavi, editors,Mathematics for Social Justice: Resources for the College Classroom, Classroom Resource Materials Volume 60, MAA Press: An Imprint of the American Mathematical Society, 2019.
Gizem Karaali and Lily S. Khadjavi, editors,Mathematics for Social Justice: Focusing on Quantitative Reasoning and Statistics, an edited volume of articles and classroom resources, American Mathematical Society Press, forthcoming.
Dongbin Kim, Susan Twombly, Lisa Wolf-Wendel, “International faculty in American universities: Experiences of academic life, productivity, and career mobility”, inNew Directions for Institutional Research: Refining the focus on faculty diversity in postsecondary institutions edited by Y.J. Xu (Number 155 (2012), Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA) pages 27–46.
Tiffany N. Kolba, “A Math Research Project Inspired by Twin Motherhood”,Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume8 Issue 2 (July 2018), pages 21–29. Available athttps://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol8/iss2/5, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
Vicente M. Lechuga, “Emotional Management and Motivation: A Case Study of Underrepresented Faculty”,New Directions for Institutional Research, Number155 (2012), pages 85–98.
Zeng Lin, Richard Pearce, and Weirong Wang, “Imported talents: demographic characteristics, achievement and job satisfaction of foreign born full time faculty in four-year American colleges”,Higher Education, Volume57 Issue 6 (June 2009), pages 703–721.
Ketevan Mamiseishvili, “Foreign-born women faculty work roles and productivity at research universities in the United States”,Higher Education, Volume60 Issue 2 (August 2010), pages 139–156.
Mathematical Association of America (MAA),MAA Mentoring Network, available athttps://www.maa.org/news/maa-mentoring-network, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
Mathematical Association of America (MAA),Project NExT, available athttps://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/professional-development/project-next, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
J. Andrew Morris and Daniel C Feldman, “The Dimensions, Antecedents, and Consequences of Emotional Labor”,The Academy of Management Review, Volume21 Number 4 (October 1996), pages 986–1010.
Gérard Näring, Peter Vlerick, and Bart Van de Ven, “Emotion work and emotional exhaustion in teachers: the job and individual perspective”,Educational Studies, Volume38 Number 1 (February 2012), pages 63–72.
Karen Pugliesi, “The Consequences of Emotional Labor: Effects on Work Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Well-Being”,Motivation and Emotion, Volume23 Issue 2 (June 1999), pages 125–154.
Susanne Schultz, translated by Frederick Peters &, “Dissolved Boundaries and “Affective Labor”: On the Disappearance of Reproductive Labor and Feminist Critique inEmpire”,Capitalism Nature Socialism, Volume17 Issue 1 (2006), pages 77–82.
Ksenja Simic-Muller, “Motherhood and Teaching: Radical Care”,Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume8 Issue 2 (July 2018), pages 188–198. Available athttps://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol8/iss2/21, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
Michael F. Steger, and Bryan J. Dik, “Work as meaning: Individual and organizational benefits of engaging in meaningful work”, inOxford Library of Psychology–Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology and Work edited by P. A. Linley, S. Harrington, and N. Garcea (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), pages 131–142.
Ronnie J. Steinberg and Deborah M. Figart, editors,Emotional Labor in the Service Economy, (Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume561), Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1999.
Ronnie J. Steinberg and Deborah M. Figart, “Emotional Labor Since The Managed Heart”, pages 8–26 in [38].
Aliza Steurer, “Inquiry Based Learning: A Teaching and Parenting Opportunity”,Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume8 Issue 2 (July 2018), pages 38–59. Available athttps://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol8/iss2/7, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
Yvette Taylor and Kinneret Lahad, editors,Feeling Academic in the Neoliberal University: Feminist Flights, Fights and Failures, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, 2018.
The National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences,Field of Dreams Conferences,https://mathalliance.org/field-of-dreams-conference/, last accessed on June 10, 2019.
The Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute,Modern Math Workshop 2018: October 10–11, 2018, available athttps://www.samsi.info/programs-and-activities/2017-2018-education-and-outreach-programs-and-workshops/modern-math-workshop-2018-october-10-11-2018/, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
Carolyn J. Thompson and Eric L. Dey, “Pushed to the Margins: Sources of Stress for African American College and University Faculty”,The Journal of Higher Education, Volume69 Issue 3 (1998), pages 324–345.
Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner, “Women of Color in Academe: Living with Multiple Marginality”,The Journal of Higher Education, Volume73 Number 1 (January/February 2002), pages 74–93.
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics,Industries at a Glance: Service-Providing Industries, available athttps://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag07.htm, last accessed on December 18, 2018.
Donald R. Weidman, “Emotional Perils of Mathematics”,Science, New Series, Volume149 Number 3688 (September 3, 1965), page 1048.
Amy S. Wharton, “The Psychosocial Consequences of Emotional Labor”, pages 158–176 in [38].
Diana White and Lori Ziegelmeier, “Reflections on Math Students’ Circles: Two Personal Stories from Colorado”,Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume5 Issue 2 (July 2015), pages 110–120. Available athttps://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol5/iss2/10, last accessed on December 20, 2018.
Meca Williams, Dionne Cross, Ji Hong, Lori Aultman, Jennifer Osbon, and Paul Schutz, “There Are No Emotions in Math’: How Teachers Approach Emotions in the Classroom”,Teachers College Record, Volume110 Number 8 (2008), pages 1574–1610.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the editors of the volume for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this volume. I also very much appreciated their open-mindedness about the uncategorizability of my project and their input and support through the writing process. I should also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers, who offered insightful feedback on the original version of this manuscript, and Brian Katz, who generously read two drafts of the paper and offered his constructive criticism. I believe that their input has much improved this paper. The imperfections that remain are of course all my responsibility; this is the best I could do at this time.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Pomona College, Department of Mathematics, Claremont, CA, USA
Gizem Karaali
- Gizem Karaali
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
Corresponding author
Correspondence toGizem Karaali.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Science Writing Advanced Academic Program, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Susan D'Agostino
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, USA
Sarah Bryant
Department of Mathematics, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
Amy Buchmann
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Belmont University, Nashville, TN, USA
Michelle Craddock Guinn
Division of Sciences and Mathematics, University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, USA
Leona Harris
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s) and the Association for Women in Mathematics
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Karaali, G. (2019). Emotional Labor in Mathematics: Reflections on Mathematical Communities, Mentoring Structures, and EDGE. In: D'Agostino, S., Bryant, S., Buchmann, A., Guinn, M., Harris, L. (eds) A Celebration of the EDGE Program’s Impact on the Mathematics Community and Beyond . Association for Women in Mathematics Series, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19486-4_12
Download citation
Published:
Publisher Name:Springer, Cham
Print ISBN:978-3-030-19485-7
Online ISBN:978-3-030-19486-4
eBook Packages:Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)
Share this chapter
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative