The Dignity of Working Women

Service, Sex, and the Labor Politics of Localization in China's City of Eternal Spring

Bibliographic Data

ID3756499
AuthorsEileen Otis (0000-0003-0643-550X, corresponding author), Eileen M Otis (University of Oregon)
Year2008
Volume52
Issue3
Pages356-376
Publication date2008-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764208325309
OpenAlexW2076567795
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited60

This article examines a five-star hotel in China's southwest Yunnan province where local management adopted the organizational template and service protocols of a U.S.-based transnational hotel firm and, at the same time, informally organized escort and sexual services for guests. The original organizational template evolved into a highly punitive labor regime that management considered necessary to discipline what they considered to be the "unruly" local employees. To my surprise, despite workers' antipathy toward management, they acted with the utmost respect toward customers. Why did managerial despotism not translate into surly service? The data reveal that professional female hotel workers take refuge in professional protocols that signal their moral distinction from sex workers who are informally attached to the hotel. These protocols of "virtuous professionalism" also require compliance to customers. The study shows how forging moral distinctions can figure centrally in the functioning of labor regimes. These moral distinctions also enable processes of firm localization

Antipathy · Business · Dignity · Formality · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Punitive damages · Service (business) · Sociology · Surprise · Emotional Labor in Professions · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Law · Marketing · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology

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