OF MOPS AND MAIDS - CONTRADICTIONS AND CONTINUITIES IN BUREAUCRATIZEDDOMESTIC WORK

This paper explores domestic employment relations in the context of th e growth of the post-industrial service sector and the ''stalled revol ution.'' The data comes from fieldwork conducted among domestic worker s, employers, and clients, as well as managers and owners of houseclea ning agencies. By presenting a case study of the household service age ncy ''Helping Hands Housekeeping,'' I compare and contrast bureaucrati zed arrangements of paid domestic work with the ''traditional'' privat e employment arrangement, demonstrating how the bureaucratization of p ad domestic work has (and has not) affected the relations, conditions, and experiences of this occupation. To sell their service, managers t rain workers to ''care'' for clients. In addition, HHH mangers create a work culture of caring and service as a form of worker control and a s a strategy to combat worker turnover. over. The gender ideologies an d personalized management tactics used by these organizations mask the low pay, part-time hours and lack of benefits that persist within the more bureaucratized arrangements of paid domestic work. Workers also implement ''strategic personalism'' in their relations with employers and clients and may seek out personalistic relationships and use them to their advantage. This research challenge the modernist notion that more formal and structured work relations are sufficient to eliminate the emotional and psychological exploration of domestic workers. Indee d, my fieldwork suggests that private employment arrangements offer wo rkers more options and greater potential for negotiating wages and con trol over the work process than do the more rationalized organizations and relations of household service agencies.