Excerpt: The Nanny Chain

Hochschild, Arlie Russell. [2000] 2005. "The Nanny Chain". Pp. 162-169 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

It's something many of us may not even realize: love and caring has become a commodity. Hochschild describes the way that chains of care are built:

A typical global care chain might work something like this: An older daughter from a poor family in a third world country cares for her siblings (the first link in the chain) while her mother works as a nanny caring for the children of a nanny migrating to a first world country (the second link) who, in turn, cares for the child of a family in a rich country (the final link). Each kind of chain expresses an invisible human ecology of care, one care worker depending on another and so on.

Most analyses and examinations of globalization focus on economics or politics. Hochschild proposes that we examine the psychological effects on those affected, such as a mother's displacing of love from her children to those she's paid to care for.

This article stresses a moot point. These "chains" can be viewed economically as women seeking better pay by employing their mothering skills overseas, where their services are needed and well-paid for. The psychological displacement is irrelevant, since the feelings of love and longing are still present for the nannies' children.

The author builds a pair of straw men and puts herself on a moral high horse as she describes "the three vantage points from which to see care chains". The "primordialist" is family and community-oriented, and is opposed to globalization. The "sunshine modernist" is "modern", in favor of globalization, and either supportive or ignorant of care chains as just a consequence of globalization. The "critical modernist" is "modern", but with "a global sense of ethics" and concern for the well-being of affected individuals. Her "primordialist" is ignorant, her "sunshine modernist" is immoral, and her "critical modernist" (as she identifies herself) is a smart and socially responsible individual.

In keeping with this theme, she proposes "smart" but vague solutions: to develop local economies, "to create local refuges from [abusive] husbands", "to raise the value of caring work and to ensure that whoever does it gets more credit and money for it", and "to get fathers to contribute more to child care".

Care chains, if we choose to acknowledge them as such, are but a detail in the discussion of globalization. There is much more to be said for exploitation and economics and quality of life and stratification than for "care", and the socio-psychological impact of all of these is sure to have much more potent outcomes.

Relevance: 2/5 (irrelevant)
Salience: 1/5 (very trivial)

References:

• Rhacel Parrenas, Servants of Globalization. - cited in agreement, as an example.
• Ernestine Avila, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Pierette Hondageu-Sotelo, Mary Romero - as an example.
• Sigmund Freud - cited in agreement. "Consider Sigmund Freud's theory of displacement, the idea that emotion can be redirected from one person or object to another."
• Sau-ling C. Wong - quoted. "Time and energy available for mothers are diverted from those who, by kinship or communal ties, are their more rightful recipients."