The Paradox of Care: Emotional Labor in Chinese State-Owned Social Welfare Institutions

Abstract

Feminist scholars have highlighted the potential of care ethics to challenge the neoliberal social paradigm by underscoring the power of emotion and affect in shaping intersubjectivity. In a similar vein, Hardt and Negri (2001, 2005) stressed the power of affect to challenge capitalism. Other scholars, however, have challenged these positive aspects of emotion in care practices, citing the potential harm caused when affective ties to care recipients or the obligation to provide emotional care exploits workers. This article discusses the paradox of care that simultaneously enables and hurts, nurtures and harms. Based on ethnographic field work in five Chinese state-owned social welfare institutions (SWIs) caring for orphans, this article argues that the emotional labor in SWIs on the one hand produces intersubjectivity among caregivers and children in their care, and on the other hand it harms caregivers emotionally, leading them to use strategies such as drawing emotional boundaries with the orphans to protect themselves from the pain of losing “their” children when they are adopted. This article contributes to the geography of care literature by challenging the fantasy and romanticization of affect in care settings and stressing the paradox of care and affect.

女权主义学者强调情绪和情感在塑造主体间性的作用, 强调护理伦理在挑战新自由主义社会范式上的潜力。Hardt和Negri（2001, 2005）也同样强调情感力量, 挑战了资本主义。然而, 其他学者对护理实践中情绪的积极方面提出质疑：与受护理者的情感联系和情绪护理义务对护理人员产生剥削作用时, 可能会造成损害。本文讨论了护理悖论：既促成又阻碍、既培育又损害。本文对中国五个国有社会福利机构（SWI）孤儿护理进行了人种学实地调查。SWI的情绪工作, 一方面在护理人员和儿童之间产生主体间性, 另一方面在情绪上损害了护理人员。这使得护理人员采用某些策略；例如, 与孤儿划定情感界限从而保护自己免受儿童被领养时失去“孩子”的痛苦。本文挑战了护理环境中的情感幻想和浪漫化, 强调了护理与情感悖论, 为护理地理学研究做出贡献。

Los eruditos feministas han destacado el potencial de la ética del cuidado para retar el paradigma social neoliberal, subrayando el poder de la emoción y del afecto para configurar la intersubjetividad. En similar forma de pensar, Hardt y Negri (2001, 2005) enfatizaron el poder del afecto para retar al capitalismo. Sin embargo, otros estudiosos han debatido estos aspectos positivos de la emoción en las prácticas del cuidado social, citando el daño potencial que se inflige cuando los vínculos afectivos con los receptores de los cuidados, o la obligación de proveer cuidado emocional, explotan los trabajadores. Este artículo analiza la paradoja del cuidado que simultáneamente habilita y perjudica, nutre y daña. A partir de trabajo de campo etnográfico en cinco entidades estatales chinas de bienestar social (SWIs) que cuidan huérfanos, este artículo sostiene que el trabajo emocional en las SWIs, por un lado, produce intersubjetividad entre los cuidadores y los niños a su cuidado, y por el otro, afecta emocionalmente a los cuidadores, induciéndolos a usar estrategias como el establecimiento de límites emocionales con los huérfanos para protegerse de la pena de perder a “sus” hijos cuando ellos son adoptados. Este artículo contribuye a la literatura de la geografía del cuidado social al desafiar la fantasía y la romantización del afecto en las instalaciones del cuidado, y a enfatizar la paradoja del cuidado y del afecto.

Key Words:

• biopolitics
• care ethics
• emotional labor

关键词:

• 生物政治学
• 护理伦理
• 情绪工作

Palabras clave:

• biopolítica
• ética del cuidado social
• trabajo emocional

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Xiaobo Su, Daniel Buck, Alexander Murphy, Aletta Biersack, and Avi Conant for their constructive comments. The authors are also grateful for the employees of INGOs for facilitating this research.

Notes

1 Socialization of social welfare refers to the outsourcing of social welfare services to nongovernment sectors, including NGOs and private companies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yi Yu

YI YU is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China. Yi Yu is an associate professor at East China Normal University. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include emotional labor, care ethics, and biopolitics.

Desheng Xue

DESHENG XUE is a Professor in the School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include world cities, ordinary cities, and globalization in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.