Working at the edge: Emotional labour in the spectre of violence

Abstract

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with police officers, door(wo)men and prison officers we present intimate, emotional and sometimes harrowing accounts of both the physical and emotional pain routinely endured by those employed as agents of social control. This article positions labour undertaken in such contexts as 'edgework'; exploring how the boundary, or 'edge', between safety and danger is negotiated and managed 'in the moment' through embodied performances of empathetic and antipathetic emotional labour and emotional neutrality. Placing the concepts of edgework and emotional labour in dialogue, we open up a space in which to explore gendered conceptualisations of emotional labour and offer a more feminist appreciation of edge work that moves us beyond narrow concerns with pleasure, to account for embodied experience and emotional performance. In so doing, this paper offers a unique insight into the emotional labour repertoires of both men and women who work in the spectre of violence.

Client care strategies, stressors, and solutions in frontline anti‐trafficking work

“…Upon concluding my coding, I conducted another layer of analysis focused more specifically on the themes embedded in scholarship on crisis management (Mastracci et al, 2012), dirty work (Gunby & Carline, 2020; Hughes, 1962; McMurray & Ward, 2014), edgework (Lyng, 1990, 2005; Ward et al, 2019), and extreme work (Gascoigne et al, 2015; Granter et al, 2015). I used Britton's (2020) practice of “see[ing] how my emergent codes were in dialog with existing research” (p. 162) by rereading my transcripts and reassessing my coding strategies.…”

“…A firefighter places her life at risk when charging into a burning building; a detective investigating a case of child abuse confronts the deviance of certain criminal actors during his interrogation. Though these examples may make edgework appear to be careless or exclusively for the “buzz” (Ward, McMurray, & Sutcliffe, 2019), this labor is not necessarily impulsive. Lyng (2005) argues edgework exists in a paradox: “Thus, in one view, edgeworkers seek to escape institutional constraints that have become intolerable; in the other, edgeworkers strive to better integrate themselves into the existing institutional environment” (p. 10).…”

“…In pushing their limits to the edge, frontline workers may be seeking transcendence through risk and conformity to institutional norms of boldness and disregard for physical or mental harm. Unsurprisingly, extreme work is often described as “heroic and masculine,” which ignores the “nuanced performances of care often associated with feminine framings of emotional labour” (Ward et al, 2019, p. 13) that is also critical to successfully working at the edge.…”

“…As well, there is something about her description here that feels edgy or extreme. She is seeking out “that which is beyond what anyone should be required to see” (Ward et al, 2019, p. 9)—here, the “reality” or the “dirt” of street‐based sex work—to intentionally induce shock and discourage this youth from perceiving commercial sex as a valid option.…”

“…As frontline workers increasingly find themselves enmeshed in anti‐trafficking efforts, it is necessary to understand the emotional impact of this work. Specifically, this layering of target service populations without an accompanying increase in resources can shift a frontline worker's role from normative emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983; 2012) to crisis management (Mastracci, Guy, & Newman, 2012), dirty work (Gunby & Carline, 2020; Hughes, 1962; McMurray & Ward, 2014), edgework (Lyng, 1990, 2005; Ward, McMurray, & Sutcliffe, 2019), or extreme work (Gascoigne, Parry, & Buchanan, 2015; Granter, McCann, & Boyle, 2015). When faced with stressors like defunded programs, increased hours for staffers, and larger caseloads, the affective components of anti‐trafficking work might be more taxing.…”