Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Commodification of Emotions in the World

Although Arlie Rosell Hochschild mentions that in the commodification of emotions are interwoven factors such as class, race, and gender, she falls short in including social factors that might affect the world-wide population. On the other hand, Mills (2003) mentions a more ample range of factors related with gender in the global labor force, “Gender inequalities represent one dynamic within a global labor force that is also segmented by class, ethnicity and race, nationality and region, among other factors” (42). Therefore, if the analysis of the commodification of emotions includes factors such as ethnicity, nationality, and race, that helps one understand how the commodification of emotions works outside and within the U.S. borders. For instance, capitalist strategies try to reach cheaper wage labor by going beyond borders, so there are U.S. call centers which both operate in India and use cheap Indian labor to give service to U.S. consumers.

But, how does the commodification of emotions work in these types of international scenarios? and Which types of emotions do Indians have to learn or to unlearn in order to give service to citizens from other countries?

Mills, Mary Beth. “Gender and Inequality in the Global Labor Force.” Annual Review of Anthropology. Vol. 32 (2003), pp. 41-62

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