Research topic

Emotion management for software professionals: Negotiating ideology through discourse

Vanessa’s research focuses on professional subjectivity, emotion management, and power in workplace and other professional settings of the software industry. She uses an interdisciplinary approach that draws on cultural studies, communications studies, and critical sociology of the workplace. As part of her doctoral research, Vanessa conducted a multi-sited ethnography, which included several months based at a software company as well as large-scale conferences and events, to research the ways in which those working in knowledge labour are called to manage themselves and their emotions. She shows how emotion management is compelled by expectations of workplaces, and broader industrial norms, and documents how employees negotiate these expectations and norms. Her research shows that the ways in which employees are compelled to understand and manage their inner worlds exposes how the broader values of the industry are negotiated through subjectivity, and within everyday professional contexts.

Biography

Vanessa previously had a career in strategic communications in Canada. In addition to her doctoral research, she has also worked on multiple research projects including as a focus group moderator, design thinking facilitator and interviewer. Vanessa has researched and written on labour in the creative and cultural industries, policy, and the political economy of media. She previously volunteered as a crisis counsellor, and as a member of the UN Women National Committee Canada.

Vanessa’s PhD research is supported by an LSE Studentship.

Personal website: www.vanessaciccone.com