The price of 'golden' exploitation: How money flows from the super-rich to domestic workers support inequalities - HAL-SHS - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Socio-Economic Review Année : 2021

The price of 'golden' exploitation: How money flows from the super-rich to domestic workers support inequalities

Résumé

Wealthy people can afford full-time domestic staff at home to be served every day. Some of them spend huge amount of money in domestic service. Working for the rich, domestic workers thus receive wages, gifts and compensations in kind. They can potentially improve their standard of living. Why do super-rich pay so much for their household staff? Following the intuition of Paul Segal about inequality as entitlement over labor, I argue that money as entitlement over labor rests on what I call the 'golden' exploitation of the workforce. Substantial rewards do not call into question the exploitative relationship. High value gifts and high salary support exploitation even in situations where it is most likely to be undermined. The case of the 'super-rich' domesticity illustrates a hidden production of social inequalities: money compensates for the unlimited drudgery of the employees.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
SER-2021-DELPIERRE.pdf (790.11 Ko) Télécharger le fichier

Dates et versions

hal-03533960 , version 1 (19-01-2022)

Licence

Paternité - Pas d'utilisation commerciale - Partage selon les Conditions Initiales

Identifiants

Citer

Alizée Delpierre. The price of 'golden' exploitation: How money flows from the super-rich to domestic workers support inequalities. Socio-Economic Review, 2021, pp.1-28. ⟨10.1093/ser/mwab049⟩. ⟨hal-03533960⟩
94 Consultations
159 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More