YOU'RE NOT THERE TO MAKE THE WORLD ANY CLEANER

ABSTRACT

Based on a review of contributions from labour sociology, gender studies and neighbouring areas, this article starts by describing the recent manners in which domestic work emerged as a topic of interest. Then, key difficulties underlying the subject in hand are discussed. It is argued that analysis should comprehend the link between the position of in-house services at the lower end of work value hierarchies and the political dynamics of knowledge societies, which requires attention to the role of mentality and ideology in mediating everyday interaction. Ethnic change, the singularity of private households as workplaces and the ambiguous bond between skill and emotional labour are central issues. Some particular perspectives of labour studies are bound to offer an improved lens in generating answers as to where the distribution of fatigue and indignity is actually being decided – and challenged.

Keywords:

• domestic services
• knowledge societies
• labour
• gender
• class
• migration

Notes

¹This article was supported by the FCT [PhD grant SFRH/BD/61181/2009] and the Visitors Programme of the Migration and Diversity Centre at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Comments from Sara Falcão Casaca, Sarah van Walsum, Luísa Veloso and anonymous referees of this journal deserve particular gratitude.