EMOTIONAL LABOR'S ASCENDANCE IN E-COMMERCE: A VALUED ASSET

Abstract

The evolution of work throughout history reflects a transition from labor-intensive tasks converting calories to joules in the pre-industrial era to the modern knowledge economy. The industrial revolution altered job landscapes, displacing skilled artisans and ushering in standardized factory work. Subsequently, the service economy emphasized cognitive labor, spanning arithmetic operations, rule application, and complex logical decision-making. This demand for intellectual labor expanded in the knowledge economy, reshaping the nature of work. With the advent of computer technology, job dynamics underwent another transformation. As early as the 1960s, Herbert Simon predicted the impact of computers on work, anticipating a surge in critical thinking-intensive and low-tech service roles. Simultaneously, structured high-paying jobs in manufacturing and services dwindled. Shoshana Zuboff further emphasized the synergy between learning and work in computer-mediated tasks, advocating for an "informated" workplace that empowers workers instead of merely automating them. This paper explores the historical and technological shifts in the nature of work, from pre-industrial to the knowledge economy, focusing on the role of computer technology in reshaping the workforce and the blurring of boundaries between learning and work.