Private vs. Public Emotions

In our class, we are discussing the book called the managed heart. In the book, it talks about how we perform emotions and feelings in professional life. But it is difficult to think about performing emotions in public, and not in private. Personally, I think that we are always performing our emotions. It just depends on the specific audiences that are around us. In a way, it’s kind of like the Las Chicas and performing their identities. Instead of performing our identites, we are performing our emotions… which can sometimes translate into identities. I feel that in most of professions, you commodities your emotions in order to get a higher profit, and make other people happy. We also perform emotions at home. People feel like they have to be happy at home. They may not always feel happy, but they feel like they need to be happy at home for their family’s sake and happiness. I feel that as a child, you also feel like you have to feel happy around your parents and obey their commands. It may not make you happy, but you have to pretend that you are happy for your family. I’m not necessarily saying that feelings of happiness and other emotions are not genuine. I’m just saying that maybe feelings and emotions are produced at home in private, as well as in public.