Emotional professionalism in a bureaucratic context: emotion management in case handling at the Swedish Enforcement Authority

This article explores the emotional regime of case handling of debt relief at the Swedish Enforcement Authority (SEA). The study analyses how emotion management and emotional display are justified by ‘being professional’ in interviews with SEA staff, revealing that this bureaucratic emotional regime is multidimensional and encompasses four different logics, which are connected to four central relational contexts of case handling. The staff justify and perform a style of ‘affective neutrality’ in the context of law, ‘loyal productivity’ in relation to NPM policies, ‘empathetic respectfulness’ in relation to debtors and an ‘authoritative and business-like’ style in relation to creditors.