The Emotional Proletariat in Public Service.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Choi, Sung Wook; Guy, Mary E.,
- Source
- Public Personnel Management; Jun2021, Vol. 50 Issue 2, p183-204, 22p
- Subject
- Corporate culture
Psychological burnout
Emotions
Job satisfaction
Job descriptions
Employment
Employee attitudes
Labor supply
Labor productivity
T-test (Statistics)
Public sector
Sex distribution
Questionnaires
Descriptive statistics
Taxation
Police
Social classes
South Korea
- Language
- ISSN
- 00910260
There is an emotional proletariat in public service. This class of worker is employed in lower ranking, lower paid jobs that are disproportionately performed by women. While this study focuses on the Korean context, findings also raise awareness to the U.S. context. An investigation of two distinctly different missions—national tax officials and police officers—reveals how the combination of gender and rank produces differential outcomes in regard to emotive demands. Women in lower grades suffer more emotional exhaustion and feel less pride in their jobs than women and men in higher ranks. The pattern provides evidence that emotional exhaustion is less about individual failure and more about predictable job characteristics. After describing findings, the conclusion speculates about generalizing to the American context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]