Managing Emotions in Public: The Case of Wheelchair Users

The sociology of emotions has concentrated on individuals' socially guided management of their own emotions to the neglect of interpersonal processes of emotion management. This article suggests that the interpersonal management of emotions is socially ubiquitous and significant, and does so with the example of wheelchair users' distinctive public experiences. We draw on our own participant observation while using wheelchairs in public, on conversational interviews with wheelchair users, and on published autobiographical accounts. Our specific focus is the emotional challenges that wheelchair users face when in public and their consequent management of both their own and others' emotions. We conclude that wheelchair users pay for even limited public acceptance with considerable emotion work and micropolitical sacrifices. We also conclude that their experiences demonstrate the more generally emotional character of contemporary public life and the often interpersonal character of emotion management.