Sayaka Osanami Törngren, Carolin Schütze, Camilla Palm

From Typology to Practice: An Empirical Model of Racialized Emotional Labor in Welfare Organizations

Racial inequalities within welfare organizations remain underexplored, particularly regarding how emotional labor is shaped by processes of racialization and organizational culture. Building on previously proposed conceptual framework on racialized emotional labor in the Swedish context (Shütze and Steljes 2025), which highlights racial micro-aggressions among colleagues, racial representation, professional masking and white normativity ingrained in organizational culture, this study conceptually extends and empirically refines the notion of racialized emotional labor, Drawing on qualitative interviews (N=25) with professionals in the social services (Socialtjänsten) and the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) the article develops this conceptual framework to an empirically grounded model. The model refines and extends the original theoretical propositions by capturing how emotional demands are structured, negotiated, and unevenly distributed along racialized lines within welfare organizations, thereby privileging white normativity.

Presenters

Carolin Schütze, Department of Social Work and MIM, Malmö University
Camilla Palm, Department of Social Work and CSS, Malmö University
Sayaka Osanami Törngren, Department of Global and Political Studies and MIM, Malmö University

Chair

Johanna Sixtensson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Work, Malmö University

Practical information

You are welcome to attend the seminar in person at Niagara. If you are not employed by the university, you need to register by emailing johanna.sixtensson@mau.se no later than the day before the seminar, as an access card is required to access the room.

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