My madam: same race, different class: living and working conditions of undocumented, migrant BaSotho domestic workers employed in black middle class houshold

Madonsela, Koketso Njabulo Gosiame

Title: My madam: same race, different class: living and working conditions of undocumented, migrant BaSotho domestic workers employed in black middle class houshold
Creator: Madonsela, Koketso Njabulo Gosiame
ThesisAdvisor: Klerck, Gilton
Subject: Black women household empoyees -- South Africa
Subject: Black employers -- South Africa
Subject: Women household employees -- South Africa
Subject: Women, Sotho -- Employment -- South Africa
Subject: Businesspeople, Black -- South Africa
Subject: Migrant labor -- South Africa
Subject: Illegal aliens -- South Africa
Subject: Master and servant -- South Africa
Subject: Women, Black -- Employment -- South Africa
Subject: Industrial relations -- South Africa
Date: 2017
Type: Thesis
Type: Masters
Type: MA
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/35166
Identifier: vital:24337
Description: Jacklyn Cock’s Maids and Madams is a study on domestic work in the Eastern Cape which places a focus on black domestic workers who work in white families. Cock’s study was ground-breaking research within labour development in South Africa (with regards to domestic service). The apartheid system regarded domestic work as that of social reproduction: domestic workers left their families to replenish and reproduce the labour power of white families, whose members were employed in a formal workplace. The contribution to this system, according to Cock (1989), was unbreakable because they did not earn enough money to disrupt the system. The respondents of this thesis are undocumented migrant Basotho domestic workers. These domestic workers have much in common with Cock’s respondents. For one, they leave their homes and families to replenish the labour power of black middle class families, whose members are employed in a formal workplace. The difference between this thesis and Cock’s study is that the respondents’ employers are members of the black middle class. Furthermore, the employees are undocumented Basotho domestic workers. Undocumented, migrant, Basotho domestic workers are in a similarly vulnerable position to that of Cock’s respondents. This dissertation engages with the extent to which Maids and Madams is still relevant to the living and working conditions of a new vulnerable workforce in the domestic sector: undocumented, female, Basotho domestic workers employed in black, middle-class households in Gauteng. The dissertation also finds that the relationship between the black migrant domestic worker and the black middle class employer is influenced cultural aspects of what domestic chores represent in black families, and the element of respect from employers (particularly to elderly domestic workers) or lack thereof. This dissertation underlines that the term “ousi” makes the Basotho domestic workers a collective, and not individuals. Thus the term “ousi” can be viewed as the term that takes away the identity of the domestic worker. The theoretical framework of the research is labour process theory (LPT). The new wave of labour process theorists are much more focused on the service industry. LPT is significant to this research because its focus is on the subjective experiences of the workers. This is the core purpose of the thesis. The focus of the new wave LPT involves a shift from understanding workers at a macro level to understanding the subjective experiences of the workers (in the service industry) at a micro level. This provides an appropriate framework to study the subjective working and living experiences of undocumented, migrant, Basotho domestic workers. The research design is based on qualitative research. The research made use of in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The selection of respondents was done through purposive sampling. They findings of this research highlighted the central themes in the relevant literature. However, the key findings of this research also reveal tensions and contradictions that are not explored in detail in the existing literature. For example, the relationship between the black middle class employer and the black domestic worker has tensions which originate from a cultural context. The respondents of this dissertation and their employers are of the same race, yet are of a different class.
Format: 147 pages, pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Sociology
Language: English
Rights: Madonsela, Koketso Njabulo Gosiame

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