Ethnological Research, No. 30, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.32458/ei.30.10
Internal Europeanization: Emotional Capital and Class in the Selection of EU Officials
Orlanda Obad
; Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb
Abstract
The article explores how the concept of emotional capital intersects with class in the highly competitive process of selecting EU officials. It is primarily based on an analysis of a test preparation guide for the EU concours, examined through the lens of Eva Illouz’s understanding of emotional capital. The article focuses on both tacit and embodied inscriptions of Europeanness – its “internal” dimensions that embed emotions within the broader context of secular and supposedly rational work practices. The author argues that the influence of therapy culture in the contemporary workplace is class-bound and may be both liberating and constraining.
Keywords
emotional capital; social hierarchy; officials; European Union; europeanization
Hrčak ID:
342842
URI
Publication date:
22.12.2025.
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