Bringing Migrant Domestic Work Literature Into Family Studies
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BRINGING MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORK LITERATURE INTO FAMILY STUDIES: THE INTRICATE DYNAMICS OF AU PAIR FAMILIES Pelechova Lenka, MA, BA (Hons) School of Sociology and Social Policy Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2014 Acknowledgements This research would not have been written without the interviewees. I would like to thank all my participant au pairs and host parents for taking part in this research, and for generously contributing with their time and insights. I am very grateful to the University of Nottingham’s European Union Research Scholarship (n 9526), which provided the essential funding for this research. I am hugely grateful to my supervisors Elisabetta Zontini and Christian Karner. Thank you for always supporting me, for offering me invaluable academic insights and for pointing me in the right direction. I would like to say thank you to Alison Haigh who have provided me with so much more than help in administrative matters. I am very thankful to Diane Trusson, for her thoughtful comments, generous help with copy editing and proof reading, but foremost for her friendship and emotional support in the past five years. I would also like to say thank you to Warren Pearce with whom I shared an office and held many interesting conversations and to Emily Wykes and Roda Madziva with whom I shared numerous discussions on topics around and beyond our research area. I would also like to acknowledge my family for all their help and encouragement during the years of writing, and particular thank you goes to both babicka Perla and Kvetoslava. I am particularly indebted to my life partner Natalio, for his unconditional love, for always believing in me, offering plenty of practical advice (always back up!) and for supporting me through the highs and lows of this research. A very special thank you for that! I dedicate the thesis to my son Benjamin. 2 Abstract This thesis explores families with live in au pairs. In particular, it investigates the changes that families go through as a result of the addition of an au pair, as well as the means by which the host parents and au pairs negotiate their new circumstances of living and working together. From a theoretical perspective, the thesis is positioned between two bodies of literature, namely, those of migrant domestic work and family studies. Up until now, research conducted in relation to au pairs has mostly been done as a part of feminisation of migration and domestic work divisions. However, such studies do not focus on the family as a unit of analysis and on the diverse experiences of different family members. In terms of family theories, there is a general consensus among scholars that contemporary families are diversifying. Even though the heterosexual couple family is still the most common form, new types of families are emerging, such as lone parents, divorced parents, same sex couples, extended families, reconstituted families, foster families and transnational families. Although the field of family studies has directed attention to diverse family forms, families with live in au pairs have, so far, escaped attention. The host families who employ and live with au pairs have to reset and renegotiate boundaries between fictive kin, family member and domestic worker. This thesis addresses the gaps that are present in much of the literature on migrant domestic work; namely the multifaceted relationships between host parents and au pairs, and the diversity of au pair’s experiences. The role of an ‘employer’ is approached not only from the viewpoint of migrant domestic work, but also from a family studies perspective. This focus allows for a greater understanding of family roles, family time and family boundaries and how they are re-negotiated by au pair employment. The exploration of au pair families was conducted through qualitative analysis consisting of semi structured interviews with 18 host 3 parents and 19 au pairs. The data illustrate that host parents developed various and lengthy strategies to ensure that their au pairs were ‘the perfect fit for their family’. This commodified version of an ideal au pair was largely affected by the host parents’ social class position as well as by their ideals of ‘the family’. Moreover, the degree of association, communication, relationship and involvement with au pairs, appeared to be very different between host mothers and host fathers. In accordance with the gendered roles and division of work within families, the interviews with host mothers and host fathers revealed that the au pairs were perceived as mainly the host mother’s responsibility. Host parents’ endeavours in creating the ‘au pair family’ were explored through their negotiations of ‘family time’. ‘General family time’ consisted of sharing family related activities with the au pair while ‘genuine family time’ meant that the au pair was not involved. Although au pair families navigated their proximity by negotiating their family time and relationships which revealed that families are adaptable, at the same time these host families were crowded with images of the romanticized traditional family. The thesis claims that the combination of family and migrant domestic work scholarship enables a greater understanding of how living with and employing an au pair is experienced and managed in everyday life. Following these empirical findings, it is argued that whilst host families ‘displayed’ flexibility and fluidity (Beck 1992), at the same time, the hegemonic notions of what families should be like indicate that traditional values still prevailed. 4 Table of contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCING THE AU PAIR SCHEME ................................................. 9 MY INTEREST .............................................................................. 13 Modes of theorizing contemporary families and migrant domestic workers ............................................................ 15 Aim of study .................................................................... 19 Thesis outline .................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 2 .............................................................................. 24 BRINGING MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORK INTO FAMILY STUDIES ................ 24 FUNCTIONALIST THEORIZATION AND FAMILY IDEOLOGY ...................... 26 FEMINIST INFLUENCES ON FAMILY STUDIES ...................................... 30 DOMESTIC WORK LITERATURE ........................................................ 32 Critique of mainstream migrant domestic work literature 36 Low value of care ............................................................. 38 CONTEMPORARY MODES OF FAMILY THEORIZATION ............................. 40 Individualisation theory and democratisation of family life ........................................................................................ 41 Individualisation critique ................................................ 43 Continuity of family ......................................................... 47 APPROACHES TO STUDYING FAMILIES .............................................. 49 AIM OF THESIS ............................................................................ 54 CHAPTER 3 .............................................................................. 56 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 56 Researching families ........................................................ 56 Qualitative research of families ....................................... 58 5 Choice of research method .............................................. 61 Interview guide ............................................................... 63 Exploring different types of interviews in family studies . 65 Access to participants ...................................................... 72 Accessing au pairs ........................................................... 73 Accessing host parents .................................................... 75 Sampling approach .......................................................... 76 Background on participants ............................................. 78 Analysis ........................................................................... 80 Location ........................................................................... 83 Researchers’ identity ....................................................... 83 Relationships during research ......................................... 87 Ethical Considerations ..................................................... 89 Consent form ................................................................. 90 Confidentiality ............................................................... 90 Au pair as participant and gatekeeper – ethical reflections ..................................................................................... 92 Further notes ................................................................... 93 CHAPTER 4 .............................................................................. 94 ‘GIRLS FROM BIG FAMILIES’: THE INFLUENCE OF CLASS AND FAMILY IDEOLOGY IN AU PAIR RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES .............................. 94 The first step: choosing between au pair agency and internet