Emotional Labor in Intimate Relationships: A Gender Parallelism
Emotional Labor in Intimate Relationships: A Gender Parallelism
Thursday, 10 July 2025: 20:15
Location: SJES012 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
Oral Presentation
Emotion is an experiential source for every individual, and since the 1970s, the sociology of emotions
has allowed us to understand how emotion is a social product and construct, taking on a meaning
shared by the entire social group. Even in the most intimate relationships, such as romantic ones,
symbolically relevant emotions act as a glue throughout all stages of the couple’s relationship. During
the couple's journey, it is inevitable to encounter various circumstances that strongly impact the
spouse's identity, and it is in these cases that emotional labor is employed to resolve potentially
hazardous internal situations.
Emotional labor manifests in the regulation and emotional resilience, as individuals conform to
socially shared emotional patterns essential for couple life. The rules of feeling and the rules of
expression influence social actors, as it is necessary to avoid social sanctions or the risk of becoming
emotional deviants. The purpose of this study is to understand, based on a sample of 100 biographical
interviews collected between April and May 2024, how socially shared emotions have taken on a
fundamental role in intimate relationships. It will sociologically trace the role of emotional labor in
the most salient phases of the relationship, how it has changed over time, and how the reference
environment has influenced it. The stages to be analyzed include courtship, marriage, the arrival of
children or drastic changes within the couple, up to the conclusion of the relationship through
separation or the death of the spouse.
Given the large volume of biographical material, the analysis is both quantitative and qualitative. The
quantitative analysis includes: occurrence analysis, identification of keywords, and keyword in
context analysis. To complement the quantitative content analysis, a qualitative coding of the text has
been necessary to better understand the emerging categories.
has allowed us to understand how emotion is a social product and construct, taking on a meaning
shared by the entire social group. Even in the most intimate relationships, such as romantic ones,
symbolically relevant emotions act as a glue throughout all stages of the couple’s relationship. During
the couple's journey, it is inevitable to encounter various circumstances that strongly impact the
spouse's identity, and it is in these cases that emotional labor is employed to resolve potentially
hazardous internal situations.
Emotional labor manifests in the regulation and emotional resilience, as individuals conform to
socially shared emotional patterns essential for couple life. The rules of feeling and the rules of
expression influence social actors, as it is necessary to avoid social sanctions or the risk of becoming
emotional deviants. The purpose of this study is to understand, based on a sample of 100 biographical
interviews collected between April and May 2024, how socially shared emotions have taken on a
fundamental role in intimate relationships. It will sociologically trace the role of emotional labor in
the most salient phases of the relationship, how it has changed over time, and how the reference
environment has influenced it. The stages to be analyzed include courtship, marriage, the arrival of
children or drastic changes within the couple, up to the conclusion of the relationship through
separation or the death of the spouse.
Given the large volume of biographical material, the analysis is both quantitative and qualitative. The
quantitative analysis includes: occurrence analysis, identification of keywords, and keyword in
context analysis. To complement the quantitative content analysis, a qualitative coding of the text has
been necessary to better understand the emerging categories.