The Emotional Work of Presenters: How Much Does the Fun Cost?

Emotions are a commodity. Modern society is hardly likely to be surprised by such a formulation. For a long time, it has faced the total commercialization of all possible areas of its existence, be it the social sphere in the form of health care, education, or even life insurance. This process could not ignore the emotions, which turned out to be an integral part of the rapidly developing sphere of services. Previous studies on the work of stewardesses, collectors, social workers and other service professionals show that "selling emotions" can be a significant component of their main work. However, in these areas, it is difficult to find out how the conversion of emotional labor into a monetary equivalent is going on, because in addition to the emotional one, "normal" labor is also present. In this regard, as an object of research, it seems necessary to study workers engaged exclusively or primarily by emotional labor, as such may be professional event leaders engaged in the entertainment industry. Thus, the purpose of this research work is to determine how the emotional work of the leading events converts into a monetary equivalent. The author conducted a qualitative empirical study, during which 16 semi-structured interviews with leading events working in Moscow were collected. The received data allow to say that the emotional work of the leading is their main professional skill. And the quality and price, according to respondents, are directly dependent on each other, with the exception of the media factor, which overstates the upper price bracket, not responding to the efforts to work. While "ordinary" leaders determine their price on the basis of the quality of performing emotional work.