This article contributes to our empirical understanding of self-respect in risingmeritocracies by focusing on the experiences of unemployed, low-skilled people recruited as workfare volunteers in the Netherlands. As many theorists have argued, the longterm unemployed struggle to maintain self-esteem. We found that workfare projects that introduce them to voluntary work can help them regain self-respect through four types of emotional labour: feeling respected through their newfound status, enjoying a craft, being able to perform in less stressful working environments, and taking pride in the meaning bestowed by voluntary work. But the emotional labour necessary to experience their situation more positively also increases the risk of experiencing negative emotions, thereby posing new threats to the fragile self-respect of unemployed citizens.
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Aims. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the level of emotional intelligence of mental health nurses in the Netherlands. Background. The focus in research on emotional intelligence to date has been on a variety of professionals. However, little is known about emotional intelligence in mental health nurses. Method. The emotional intelligence of 98 Dutch nurses caring for psychiatric patients is reported. Data were collected with the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory within a cross-sectional research design. Results. The mean level of emotional intelligence of this sample of professionals is statistically significant higher than the emotional intelligence of the general population. Female nurses score significantly higher than men on the subscales Empathy, Social Responsibility, Interpersonal Relationship, Emotional Self-awareness, Self-Actualisation and Assertiveness. No correlations are found between years of experience and age on the one hand and emotional intelligence on the other hand. Conclusions. The results of this study show that nurses in psychiatric care indeed score above average in the emotional intelligence required to cope with the amount of emotional labour involved in daily mental health practice. Relevance to clinical practice. The ascertained large range in emotional intelligence scores among the mental health nurses challenges us to investigate possible implications which higher or lower emotional intelligence levels may have on the quality of care. For instance, a possible relation between the level of emotional intelligence and the quality of the therapeutic nurse–patient relationship or the relation between the level of emotional intelligence and the manner of coping with situations characterised by a great amount of emotional labour (such as caring for patients who self-harm or are suicidal).
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Het doel van reclasseringswerk is voorkomen en verminderen van crimineel gedrag en vanuit veiligheid en zorg bijdragen aan duurzame re-integratie en resocialisatie van delinquenten. Reclasseringswerkers worden in het werken daaraan geconfronteerd met emoties van cliënten en die van zichzelf. Er is nog weinig onderzoek gedaan naar hoe reclasseringswerkers omgaan met emoties in hun werk en hoe ze deze uiten in cliëntencontact. De aandacht gaat tot nu toe vooral uit naar het uiten van emoties als empathie of humor die belangrijk zijn in effectieve werkwijzen in het reclasseringswerk zoals prosociaal modelleren of motivational interviewing. Maar wat doe je als je die emoties niet direct voelt en hoe ga je om met emoties als boosheid, walging, ergernis? Dat vraagt om emotional labour, zoals Hochschild dat noemt: werken om een emotie te uiten die bijdraagt aan het doel dat je als reclasseringswerker voor ogen hebt. En dat betekent soms iets maskeren of juist veinzen. In dit artikel doen we verslag van een kleinschalig verkennend onderzoek onder reclasseringswerkers van Inforsa Amsterdam (verslavingsreclassering) naar emoties die zij ervaren in hun werk, de wijze waarop zij emoties uiten in de interactie met hun cliënten en wat er volgens hen nodig is om ondanks de emotionele ballast van hun werk, hun veerkracht te behouden. We gaan allereerst in op emoties en schetsen vervolgens hoe emoties een rol kunnen spelen in de reclasseringspraktijk en wat voor emotional labour dat vraagt van de reclasseringswerkers in de interactie met hun cliënten. We sluiten af met enkele conclusies en implicaties voor de praktijk.
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Under the umbrella of artistic sustenance, I question the life of materials, subjective value structures, and working conditions underlying exhibition making through three interconnected areas of inquiry: Material Life and Ecological Impact — how to avoid the accumulation of physical materials/storage after exhibitions? I aim to highlight the provenance and afterlife of exhibition materials in my practice, seeking economic and ecological alternatives to traditional practices through sustainable solutions like borrowing, reselling, and alternative storage methods that could transform exhibition material handling and thoughts on material storage and circulation. Value Systems and Economic Conditions —what do we mean when we talk about 'value' in relation to art? By examining the flow of financial value in contemporary art and addressing the subjectivity of worth in art-making and artists' livelihoods, I question traditional notions of sculptural skill while advocating for recognition of conceptual labour. The research considers how artists might be compensated for the elegance of thought rather than just material output. Text as Archive and Speculation— how can text can store, speculate, and circulate the invisible labour and layers of exhibition making? Through titles, material lists, and exhibition texts, I explore writing's potential to uncover latent structures and document invisible labor, considering text both as an archiving method and a tool for speculating about future exhibitions. Using personal practice as a case study, ‘Conditions for Raw Materials’ seeks to question notions of value in contemporary art, develop alternative economic models, and make visible the material, financial, and relational flows within exhibitions. The research will manifest through international exhibitions, a book combining poetic auto-theoretical reflection with exhibition speculation, new teaching formats, and long-term investigations. Following “sticky relations," of intimacy, economy and conditions, each exhibition serves as a case study exploring exhibition making from emotional, ecological, and economic perspectives.
