A master thesis from Aalborg University
Paradoxical Precarity & Emotional Labor: Brazilian and Vietnamese Migrant Beauticians in Sweden
Author(s)
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2024
Submitted on
2024-05-31
Pages
61 pages
Abstract
Against a backdrop of widespread global precarity and shifting priorities in the Swedish labor market, this thesis explores migrant experiences of precarity in the beauty industry by asking: how is migrant beauty work characterized by precarity, and how do migrant beauticians navigate it? Through participant observation and a series of narrative interviews with Vietnamese salon owners and workers as well as self-employed Brazilian domestic beauticians in Sweden, this thesis reflects on the position of migrant beauticians on the basis of interpersonal dynamics. Current research on emerging precarity among migrants in Sweden is largely based on the gig economy, leaving precarity among self-employed migrants unexplored. In order to address this gap, emotional labor is presented as a productive entrypoint into migrant precarity by its ability to demonstrate how relationships and identity construction define obstacles and strategies that drive, reinforce and counteract precarity. This thesis finds that precarity in the beauty industry is characterized by a complex web of network relations and identity construction dynamics which curb but also exacerbate vulnerabilities beauticians face as they shape their trajectories in Sweden. As the title suggests, the essence of self-employed beauty work is paradoxical precarity, in which one’s work can be secure and lucrative at the same time as being exploitative and interdependent. Finally, the insights gained throughout this project question the extent to which self-employment is the wise integration solution the Swedish government and institutions envision it to be.
Keywords
Documents
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