ReThinking Merve Emre on emotional intelligence as corporate control (Re-release)
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Dec 31, 2024 Merve Emre, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Oxford and a contributor to The New Yorker, discusses the dark side of emotional intelligence. She reveals how this concept, often seen as beneficial, has been weaponized by corporations for control over employees. Emre scrutinizes its origins, the socio-economic factors at play, and the superficial nature of corporate emotional intelligence training. The conversation delves into emotional labor's complexities, advocating for a more genuine approach in workplaces that values authentic emotional expression.
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Merve's Introduction to EI
- Merve Emre's parents gave her Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence when she was 10.
- She vividly remembers the cover but admits to not reading it until recently.
EI as Ideology
- Emotional intelligence may be a manufactured concept designed to highlight deficiencies and influence behavior.
- It reframes emotional labor, a social relation between employee and corporation, as individual aptitude.
Social Differentiation
- Individual emotional capacity matters less when "emotional intelligence" is used for social differentiation (e.g., hiring).
- The term's use itself creates social differentiation in the context of work.
