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The Relevance of Identifying and Naming Emotional Workplace Abuse

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Emotional Workplace Abuse

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the complexity of naming and identifying emotional workplace abuse (EWA) and discusses why addressing emotional abuse is difficult for the targets. We approach these obstacles by using three levels of analysis based on feminist research on violence: public–private distinction, a continuum of violence and negative response to disclosing of abuse. On the basis of the interview and narrative data, it is shown that, even though there is extensive literature and policies on bullying and mobbing, targets may have difficulty recognizing indirect and subtle forms of abuse as workplace violence and violations. The chapter shows how the obstacles to identifying EWA are related to toxic organizational cultures and the reluctance of leadership to take the issue seriously.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Elina Penttinen & Marjut Jyrkinen

  2. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Elisabeth Wide

Authors
  1. Elina Penttinen
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  2. Marjut Jyrkinen
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  3. Elisabeth Wide
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Correspondence to Elina Penttinen .

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Penttinen, E., Jyrkinen, M., Wide, E. (2019). The Relevance of Identifying and Naming Emotional Workplace Abuse. In: Emotional Workplace Abuse. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19993-7_2

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