The employer's world in focus: class, race and gender in domestic work

Abstract

The debate around domestic work in Brazil has sparked debates inside and outside the academic sphere for some decades. More recently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its potential to unveil inequalities, the issue has gained even greater repercussion. Considering that the relations between employers and domestic servants constitute places of formation and class distinction (GOLDSTEIN, 2009) and that there is still the possibility of deepening studies on domestic work in anthropology that seek to investigate the employer world (BRITES , 2013), this research project proposes to analyze ethnographically subjective aspects of the employer perspective from the direct dialogue with employer entities that represent and/or provide assistance to the category in Campinas and region. By understanding social class beyond income and an economicist vision (MAIA, 2017; SOUZA, 2006; 2018) as well as the singularities of the employer/worker relationship, the notions of symbolic capital (BOURDIEU, 1986), demarcation repertoires (GORBÁN , 2012), domestic culture (MONTICELLI, 2017), discursive victimization strategies (TEIXEIRA; CARRIERI; SOUZA, 2020), maternalism (MORAS, 2013; ROLLINS, 1985), sexual division of labor (HIRATA; KERGOAT, 2007) and externalization domestic work (GUTIERREZ-RODRÍGUEZ, 2010), among others, will be important for understanding the complexity of the field. Thus, the research will be conducted through ethnographic work in person and virtually with employers in the field of paid domestic work in Campinas-SP and region. (AU)