Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa
Includes bibliographical references. === This dissertation investigates the relationships between domestic workers and employers, as reported by employers, concentrating on food provision as a central dimension. It applies anthropological and sociological approaches that include 10 focus group discu...
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ndltd-netd.ac.za-oai-union.ndltd.org-uct-oai-localhost-11427-76972020-10-06T05:11:29Z Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa Archer, Sarah Frankental, Sally Development Studies Includes bibliographical references. This dissertation investigates the relationships between domestic workers and employers, as reported by employers, concentrating on food provision as a central dimension. It applies anthropological and sociological approaches that include 10 focus group discussions, 171 completed questionnaires (open- and closed-answer questions) and 10 home observation sessions. The employer sample group is almost exclusively white, middle class, female, English-speaking, tertiary educated residents of Cape Town, South Africa. The research starts from the premise that domestic employment Is an illuminating sphere for analysing the intersection between race, class and gender at the present time in South Africa. It argues that, through an examination of the domestic worker employment relationship, particularly when viewed through the lens of food provision, It becomes possible to judge the extent to which these relationships have changed since the end of apartheid. The research shows that, while a proportion of individual relationships have changed in positive ways, many remain determined by the habituated norms and codes of apartheid-era employment. The study found that the relationship is characterised by contradictions in the attitudes and behaviour of employers, exacerbated by ambiguous communication and employer discomfort and feelings of guilt about past, and present, inequalities. Employer unease and discomfort were particularly evident in the company of peers and in relation to the question of employer responsibility towards workers. The study also found that age and income influenced employer attitudes. 2014-09-26T07:17:45Z 2014-09-26T07:17:45Z 2008 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7697 eng application/pdf University of Cape Town Faculty of Humanities Department of Social Development |
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English |
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Dissertation |
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Development Studies |
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Development Studies Archer, Sarah Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa |
description |
Includes bibliographical references. === This dissertation investigates the relationships between domestic workers and employers, as reported by employers, concentrating on food provision as a central dimension. It applies anthropological and sociological approaches that include 10 focus group discussions, 171 completed questionnaires (open- and closed-answer questions) and 10 home observation sessions. The employer sample group is almost exclusively white, middle class, female, English-speaking, tertiary educated residents of Cape Town, South Africa. The research starts from the premise that domestic employment Is an illuminating sphere for analysing the intersection between race, class and gender at the present time in South Africa. It argues that, through an examination of the domestic worker employment relationship, particularly when viewed through the lens of food provision, It becomes possible to judge the extent to which these relationships have changed since the end of apartheid. The research shows that, while a proportion of individual relationships have changed in positive ways, many remain determined by the habituated norms and codes of apartheid-era employment. The study found that the relationship is characterised by contradictions in the attitudes and behaviour of employers, exacerbated by ambiguous communication and employer discomfort and feelings of guilt about past, and present, inequalities. Employer unease and discomfort were particularly evident in the company of peers and in relation to the question of employer responsibility towards workers. The study also found that age and income influenced employer attitudes. |
author2 |
Frankental, Sally |
author_facet |
Frankental, Sally Archer, Sarah |
author |
Archer, Sarah |
author_sort |
Archer, Sarah |
title |
Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa |
title_short |
Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa |
title_full |
Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa |
title_fullStr |
Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa |
title_full_unstemmed |
Employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid South Africa |
title_sort |
employer perspectives on domestic employment relationships in post-apartheid south africa |
publisher |
University of Cape Town |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7697 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT archersarah employerperspectivesondomesticemploymentrelationshipsinpostapartheidsouthafrica |
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1719349793853014016 |