Melissa Gregg dives into the ideologies of how the workspace functions — in and out of the work place itself. She dives into how the work place is evolving and how social interactions take place. She does so by drawing comparisons and evidence from Six Feet Under and applying different theories. One theory in particular, which just so happens to be the name of the piece at whole is the ‘Affect Theory’.
The theory is described as: “[Affect theory] is a theory that seeks to organize affects, sometimes used interchangeably with emotions, or subjectively experienced feelings, into discrete categories and to typify their physiological, social, interpersonal, and internalized manifestations.” (Tomkins). The theory seems quite broad, which in all respect it is. But nonetheless, it covers some very important ground. Especially in her example of ‘Six Feet Under’.
Gregg discusses the concerns of the new workplace. The creative workplace desires the notion of new types of emotional management, one example being ‘snark’. She describes it as “a less than fortunate side effect of the copious ways the contemporary workplace relies on simulations.”. In other words, she is saying that the workplace has lost its authenticity, and that people act much different at work versus when they go out for drinks afterwards.
Personally, this article reminded me of so many other shows we see today. I thought of The Office and Parks and Rec, and how the characters in those shows interact and display these theories. Although they are all done satirically, they display different behaviors while at work than out for some “Friday Night Drinks”.
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