Emotional routes in Santiago de Chile: the emotion work of professional men and women in their relationships

Several authors point out that we are witnessing a change in how emotions are understood and experienced in social relationships. These theories are part of the so-called 'emotional turn'. The authors' assumptions associated with this shift in research emphasis are that the way emotions are displayed in social relations reveals something about society and that emotions are not only felt, but can also be exercised. Based on this assumption, the study sought the intersection of four elements: emotions, gender, private and public space. It was proposed to research public space through work relationships and private space through couple relationships. To this end, research was carried out to explore the accounts of emotion work performed by Chilean professional women and men in the city of Santiago de Chile. It examined how their emotion work and their way of doing gender is linked to workspace relations and heterosexual couple relationships. A qualitative methodology was used in which twenty-two professionals, eleven school teachers and eleven engineers, were interviewed through a semi-structured interview. The data analysis was organised according to the gender and profession of the interviewees. The results show that new and traditional normative gender ideals circulate in the relationships studied, which are manifested in expectations in relationships. These expectations are worked on by the participants through the emotion work they carry out in their interactions with others. Thus, participants negotiate with these expectations, moving towards, away from or reinterpreting them. It is concluded that it is through this emotion work that people make emotions and gender in the relationships studied.