Born on January 15, 1940, in Boston, Massachusetts, Arlie Russell Hochschild is a prominent American sociologist renowned for her pioneering work on emotional labor and its implications. Her upbringing in a family with a Foreign Service background led her to live in various countries, including Israel, New Zealand, and Ghana. This diverse exposure to different cultures influenced her sociological perspective and understanding of human emotions within social contexts.

Hochschild pursued her undergraduate studies at Swarthmore College, graduating in 1962. She earned a master’s degree in 1965 and a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969. Her academic journey was marked by a strong interest in the interplay between emotions and social structures, which became the cornerstone of her research and theoretical contributions.

Throughout her career, Hochschild has held a position as a professor of sociology at UC Berkeley, where she is a professor emerita. Her scholarly work is deeply intertwined with her personal experiences and observations, which she meticulously translates into her research. An early exposure to different cultures and social dynamics equipped her with a unique lens through which she examined the nuances of emotional labor.

Her groundbreaking book The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling (1983) introduced the concept of emotional labor.