Work Intensification, Alienation and the Role of Emotions

In recent years, processes of marketization have changed the world of work fundamentally. Even in the field of professional work, professionals report about work intensification, time pressure and feelings of meaninglessness at work. Although the notion of alienation is used to describe those changes of working experiences, only few studies have focused on understanding feelings of alienation at work in the context of work intensification. To fill this gap, this paper looks on experiences of alienation in high-stress working conditions. It specifically aims at understanding the role of emotions in experiences of alienation.

To understand the nexus of work intensification, alienation and emotions, in this paper the interviews with senior physicians with management responsibility are analyzed. As part of a research project on meaningful work, we conducted 20 semi-structured narrative based interviews on the working experience and work orientations with senior physicians in different university clinics. Based on the analysis of these interviews, this paper answers the following questions: How can experiences of alienation be identified in qualitative interview material and what are their specifics? What is the difference between alienation and stress? What role do emotions play in the understanding of alienation processes? I show that feelings of alienation can be found in the field of alienation from self, alienation from work and alienation from others. In these three forms of alienation, the emotion of nostalgia plays a crucial role.

The paper offers deeper insights to the understanding of alienation in a changing world of work. Besides the empirical insights, theoretical questions about the construct of alienation are also highlighted.