This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kang, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Managed Hand

The Commercialization of Bodies and Emotions in Korean Immigrant–Owned Nail Salons

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

This ethnographic study of service interactions in Korean immigrant women–owned nailsalons in New York City introduces the concept "body labor" to designate a type of gendered work that involves the management of emotions in body-related service provision. The author explores variation in the performance of body labor caused by the intersection of the gendered processes of beauty service work with the racialized and class-specific service expectations of diverse customers. The study examines three distinct patterns of service provision that are shaped by racial and class inequalities between women: (1) high-service body labor, (2) expressive body labor, and (3) routinized body labor. These patterns demonstrate that a caring, attentive style of emotional display is dominant in workplaces governed by white, middle-class "feeling rules" but that different racial and class locations call forth other forms of gendered emotionalmanagement that focus on displaying respect, reciprocity, fairness, competence, and efficiency.

Key Words: body labor • emotional labor • gendered work • intersections of race, gender, and class • immigrant women’s work • Korean women

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Barber The Well-Coiffed Man: Class, Race, and Heterosexual Masculinity in the Hair Salon Gender Society, August 1, 2008; 22(4): 455 - 476. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. George Interactions in Expert Service Work: Demonstrating Professionalism in Personal Training Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, February 1, 2008; 37(1): 108 - 131. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. L. Craig and R. Liberti "'Cause That's What Girls Do": The Making of a Feminized Gym Gender Society, October 1, 2007; 21(5): 676 - 699. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. M. Harvey Becoming Entrepreneurs: Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender at the Black Beauty Salon Gender Society, December 1, 2005; 19(6): 789 - 808. [Abstract] [PDF]