Emotional Proletarians In A Global Economy: Mexican Immigrant Women And Elder Care Work

Abstract

Through the ethnographic case of Santa Barbara, California I focus on Mexican immigrant women employed as elder care workers in private homes. In particular, I examine the care narratives of Mexicanas who labor with little or no supervision from anyone other than their wards. These narratives reveal that workers undertake a broad range of unrecognized efforts such as facial and bodily displays, tone of voice and spoken word, and more significantly, empathy and long-term strategic choices. These types of labor stand in sharp contrast to those performed by the prototypical emotional proletarians of the academic literature and suggest that there is a new, more flexible type of proletarian in the global economy, one whose skills involve providing authentic emotion. I have known elderly persons who have no one, and I see them as abandoned persons. There is more of a need for caring than cleaning [in society]. But not just anyone can do it. It requires mind and body; it requires that you give order to the day. And it is very