Drinking and working in a cantina

Misrecognition and the threat of stigma

Datos Bibliográficos

ID15099458
AutoresMaria Eugenia Fernández-Esquer (0000-0003-2122-9624, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, autor de correspondencia), Maria Carolina Agoff (0000-0002-3809-460X, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico)
Año2012
Volumen14
Número4
Páginas407-420
Fecha de publicación2012-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2011.651159
PMID22273076
OpenAlexW2018985050
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas27

Poor women are often compelled to accept jobs that jeopardise their health and their social reputations. Cantineras are recently immigrated Latinas employed in working-class Latino bars (cantinas) where they are hired as waitresses to earn sales commissions from beer purchased for them by male clients seeking female companionship. Narratives solicited from 31 cantineras revealed the work subculture of local cantinas, where drinking is a primary work obligation and where men expect sexual favours as a quid pro quo for beers they buy. This paper describes strategies that cantineras adopt to downplay their drinking and to disguise sex-trading practices. This distortion or 'misrecognition' of work-related practices functions to manage cantineras' fear of being stigmatised as workers and devalued as individuals. We argue that misrecognition in this context represents more than simple attempts at denial or to uphold a public image. Rather, it is a strategy employed by cantineras in order to function adaptively under oppressive work circumstances. Confronting stigma leads cantineras to adopt social and cognitive strategies that, while minimising social damage in the near term, can lead to devastating health and social consequences over time

Context (archaeology · Criminology · Denial · Narrative · Obligation · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Stigma (botany · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology