Cabin Pressure: African American Pilots, Flight Attendants, and Emotional Labor [Hardcover]

From African American pilots being asked to carry peoples luggage to patrons refusing drinks from African American flight attendants, Cabin Pressure demonstrates that racism is still very much alive in the friendly skies. Author Louwanda Evans draws on provocative interviews with African Americans in the flight industry to examine the emotional labor involved in a business that offers occupational prestige, but also a history of the systemic exclusion of people of color.Louwanda Evans is assistant professor of sociology at Millsaps College. She has published articles in The American Behavioral Scientist, Contemporary Sociology, and The Encyclopedia of International Education.

The reality of everyday racisms are excellently exposed in this unique study of African Americans in the airline industry. Louwanda Evans provides a rich and powerful account of the emotional labor involved in negotiating systemic racism providing a fierce critique that has a profound resonance across a wide range of occupations. Highly recommended. Ian Law, Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies, University of Leeds

Louwanda Evans analysis of African American flight attendants and pilots provides a long overdue corrective on the sociological study of emotional labor. One of the first manuscripts of its kind, Cabin Pressure reveals how intersectionalityin this case, the simultaneous effects of occupational position, gender and raceinfluences not only how individuals do the work of their paid jobs, but also the oft unpaid work of emotional labor. Based on occasionally jaw dropping interviews with African-American pilots and flight attendants, Cabin Pressure simultaneously updates our understanding of emotional labor performed in the airlines industry and challenges student and scholars, alike, to take a more nuanced look at the racialized and gendered nature of professional service work. Kathryn J. Lively, Dartmouth College

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