Merve Emre, an Associate Professor at Oxford and a cultural critic for The New Yorker, challenges the traditional views of emotional intelligence. She argues that it can be weaponized for corporate control rather than genuine growth. The conversation explores its roots in emotions, how it intersects with social class, and its impact on workplace culture. Emre calls for reevaluation of psychological strategies in organizations, advocating for sustainable employee support over superficial fixes, while revealing the complexities of emotional labor in professional settings.

It’s been 25 years since the concept of emotional intelligence exploded onto the scene. Cultural critic Merve Emre makes a bold case that in the wrong hands, it can be used to exploit people. We unpack the surprising roots of emotional intelligence, how it’s been co-opted as a form of corporate control, and why you might want to rethink some of your core assumptions about emotions at work. You can find the full transcript for this episode at go.ted.com/T4GTscript6This was an episode of Taken for Granted, but now the podcast is called ReThinking with Adam Grant, and it’s back with weekly episodes. You can listen to them right here in the WorkLife feed, or by following ReThinking with Adam Grant wherever you are right now.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Xavier Bonilla interviews Merve Emre, a literature professor at Oxford University. They discuss the importance of literary criticism, different ways of reading, interpretation methods, genre boundaries, and the philosophical implications in novels like 'Heaven' by Mieko Kawakami. They also touch on film adaptations, favorite books like 'Crime and Punishment' and 'Lolita', and the themes of cruelty and love in literature.

Historian Hannah Dawson and scholar Merve Emre discuss six centuries of feminist writing, including diverse voices like Mary Wollstonecraft and Qiu Jin. They explore the evolution of feminist thought, inclusivity in anthology selection, historical struggles for equality, and empowering language of feminism.