Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Jennifer Tincher |
|---|---|
| Title | Advocating for the Advocate: The Influences of Bureaucracy and Emotional Labor in Victim/Witness |
| Department | Sociology & Criminology |
| Advisor | Dr. Brooke Wagner, Dr. Jerry Pankhurst, Dr. Katherine Rowell |
| Year | 2016 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (343 KB) |
| Abstract | Today, more employers are requiring emotional labor as a part of the job description. Emotional labor refers to the process by which workers are expected to manage their feelings in accordance with organizationally defined rules and guidelines. They are not only required to perform emotional labor, but are also evaluated on how well they perform emotional labor. Hochschild (1983) was one of the first people to study emotional labor; which focused on airline stewardesses. This study looks at emotional labor utilized by the advocates of victim witness division inside the prosecutors’ office. This study looks at how they balance the demands of self and job in ways that makes their job rewarding, while performing their work well. It looks at the different ways that the advocates use coping strategies and separation techniques. I also explore how the victim witness positions are typically gendered, with women holding most of the advocate jobs. In my study all of the advocates in both victim witness divisions were women, no men held an advocate position. A qualitative study was my choice of methodology to gather the required information for my research. This included interviews with victim witness advocates from two separate victim witness divisions. I also observed the advocates for a period of two months and took ethnographic notes while observing. The interviews and observations confirmed my literature research in regards that the advocate needs to be able to balance their personal life and their work life by detaching and separation. The point of my research is to find out what challenges that the advocates face and what changes can be made to help them maintain and improve their success at their job. |
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