Week 6: Immaterial work: Reproductive, affective and emotional labour

Hannah Bennett
Hannah.bennett@kcl.ac.uk
Aims of the lecture

1.) To personalise broader historical

trends in ‘work’

2.) To explore key terms, such as

‘feminization’, ‘emotional’ and ‘affective
labour’

3.) To provide background information

on women and work in China.
Michael Hardt and Antonio
Negri. 2009. Commonwealth

‘Feminization’ of labour:

1. The rapid increase in the proportion of

women ­in the wage labor market

2. Qualitative shift in the working day and

thus the temporal “flexibility” of labor for
both women ­and men. Part-­time and
informal employment, irregular hours, and
multiple jobs

3. Qualities that have traditionally been

associated with “­women’s work,” such as
affective, emotional, and relationship
tasks, are becoming increasingly central in
all sectors of labor
 Women and Work in China

New Marriage Law 1950

Raised the marriageable age
to 20 for men and 18 for
women, and banned marriage
by proxy; both parties had to
consent to a marriage.

Great Leap Forward 1958-

Red Detachment of Women, 1971 propaganda image
1962
Chairman Mao Zedong
launched the campaign to
reconstruct the country from
an agrarian economy into a
communist society through
the formation of people's
communes. Mao decreed
increased efforts to multiply
grain yields and bring industry
to the countryside.
The Double Burden

• A 1947 economic survey recorded

that the prospective labour force
was substantially lower than
required to reach national
production targets, thus the
Ministry of Labour appealed ‘to
women who are in the position to
do so to enter industry.’

• Yet a great emphasis still was

placed on women’s primary
position as wives and mothers.

• Selma James and the WFH

campaign set out to, as she states,
‘analyse Marxism from the point of
view of women, rather than
women from the point of view of
Marxism’
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

• The Cultural Revolution, was a socio-political

movement in China from 1966 until Mao
Zedong's death in 1976.

• Launched by Mao Zedong, Chairman of the

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and founder
of the People's Republic of China (PRC)

• Its goal was to preserve Chinese communism

by purging remnants of capitalist and
traditional elements from Chinese society.
Michael Hardt and Antonio
Negri. 2009. Commonwealth

‘Feminization’ of labour:

1. The rapid increase in the proportion of

women ­in the wage labor market

2. Qualitative shift in the working day and

thus the temporal “flexibility” of labor for
both women ­and men. Part-­time and
informal employment, irregular hours, and
multiple jobs

3. Qualities that have traditionally been

associated with “­women’s work,” such as
affective, emotional, and relationship
tasks, are becoming increasingly central in
all sectors of labor
Immaterial labour

• Immaterial labour in turn is a

concept drawn from Marxist
scholarship and coined by
Italian sociologist Maurizio
Lazzarato in 1996.

• Produces a nonmaterial good

such as a cultural product,
communication, information,
or knowledge.
Affective labour
‘Affective labour’ as immaterial production produces
emotional experiences in people, put simply it produces
affect.

Employers seeking affective labourers will highlight

education, attitude and character as desirable in employees.
 Can anyone suggest a job
which might be considered
affective labour?
Emotional
Labour
“requires one to induce or suppress
feeling in order to sustain the
outward countenance that
produces the proper state of mind
in others… This kind of labour calls
for a coordination of mind and
feeling, and it sometimes draws on
a source of self that we honour as
deep and integral to our
individuality.” (Hochschild, p.20)
 Gender
80.00%

70.00%

60.00%

50.00%

40.00%

30.00%

20.00%

10.00%

0.00%
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Men Women
“Less and less young, youngsters want to join this job. This is not
just for the golf business, but for other business as well. It is very
hard to hire, to attract these youngsters to do a labour focused
job. It is hard everywhere, for hotels, for restaurants. This is the
problem, especially here. Because this place relies a lot on outside
labour sources…Before, many [golf clubs] were strictly only hiring
women for some reason, you know I do not want to talk too much
about that. But now they are starting to hire boys, men, as well,
because of a lack of resources.”
Interview with golf course Manager, March 2019

“Previously it was easier to find pretty girls, but now it’s getting
harder.”
Golf course Manager, June 2019

“We were struggling to find enough women to do the job. It is

hard work, so lots of women do not want to do it, it can be
physical, and [women] do not want to tan. [The job] can be too
tiring, there are other similar professions that are less difficult and
have higher salaries.”
Interview with golf club Manager, July 2019
-Maintain clean teeth. Men and women caddies should not smoke while at work or eat bad smelling foods.

-No rings should be worn except wedding rings. Women can wear one pair of earrings of the same style, men cannot
wear earrings.

-Women must wear light make-up, must trim eyebrows, and use red lipstick.

-Must bathe frequently, maintain a fresh body odour, do not use perfume with too strong a fragrance.

-Wash your hair frequently and keep it clean, no dandruff. Do not die your hair or have a strange (guguai) hairstyle.
Women’s hair should not be longer than the face, and no split ends, men’s hair should not exceed the ears.
 “If you want to make
money in this business first,
zuoren.”

做人 : to conduct ones... : zuò rén

Zuò= to make, rén= person
Thank you so
much!

Does anyone have

any questions or
thoughts they’d like
to share?