Disrupted interaction: Rituals, emotions, and struggle in workplace interactions of hard-of-hearing employees

In this dissertation, I examine the processes and consequences of disrupted and failed interactions in the workplace, using employees with hearing loss as a case study. It explores interactional breakdowns and the emotional conflicts that may arise as a result. The dissertation is guided by the overarching research question: What characterizes disrupted interaction, and what social consequences does it entail? The analysis draws on the micro-sociological concepts of interaction rituals (Collins 2014) and face-work (Goffman 1967, 1990) to examine interactional micro-processes and social norm breaches. Additionally, it draws on perspectives from the sociology of emotions on sympathy as emotional gift exchange (Clark 1987, 1997; Hochschild 2003) to analyze the role of inclusive interactional gestures in the processes of inclusion. The empirical foundation of the dissertation consists of semi-structured interviews with employees with hearing loss, as well as interviews with colleagues and managers without hearing loss at two workplaces where four months of ethnographic fieldwork were conducted. The first article investigates interactional challenges in disrupted interaction and contributes a conceptualization of four types of struggles: 1) Concealing interactional disruptions; 2) Managing conflicts; 3) Keeping track of the conversation; and 4) Reintegrating into interactions. The second article examines the role of inclusive interactional gestures for the social inclusion and exclusion of employees with hearing loss, as well as the risk of cumulative exclusion from workplace culture and symbols. The article contributes to existing microsociological and sociology of emotions literature by unfolding how processes of social exclusion manifest in the workplace for hard-of-hearing employees through chains of situational exclusion and restricted access to emotional gift-giving. The third article investigates feeling rules related to interactional inclusion in the workplace, shedding light on how inclusive interactional gestures sometimes result in failed interaction rituals with consequences such as restrained emotional buildup, emotional exhaustion, and efforts to manage emotions. The article contributes to the existing sociological literature on emotions by offering a conceptualization of three types of costs associated with displaying inclusive interactional gestures in the workplace. Overall, this dissertation contributes an analysis of how disrupted interaction and failed interaction rituals unfold in the workplace for employees with hearing loss, as well as the emotional and social consequences for both them and their colleagues. By combining 4 interviews with employees with hearing loss, colleagues, and managers, along with ethnographic fieldwork, the dissertation addresses a limitation in existing research by shedding light on processes of interactional stratification affecting employees with hearing loss.