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Embodied intersectionality and the intersectional management of hotel labour: The everyday experiences of social differentiation in customer‐oriented work

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  • Gabriella Alberti
  • Francesco E. Iannuzzi

Abstract

This article contributes to debates on critical diversity and intersectionality by focusing on hotel labour in a global tourist destination, the city of Venice. Through a qualitative study it explores how social differences are experienced by workers and valued by hotel management. We find that while management tends to allocate workers to different jobs according to the perceived ‘desirability’ of their embodied attributes by customers, the gendered and racialized divisions among workers do not simply conform with traditional patterns of ‘back’ and ‘front‐of‐house’ occupational positions. Rather they reflect variable compositions along the gender, migration and racial stereotypes reproduced by employers’ attempts to fulfill perceived changing expectations of customers. We develop the notion of ‘intersectional management’ to capture these fluid forms of valorization of social difference, which appear influenced by workers’ practices of embodied intersectionality through the selective performance of entrenched stereotypes, and their everyday encounters with an internationalizing clientele.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriella Alberti & Francesco E. Iannuzzi, 2020. "Embodied intersectionality and the intersectional management of hotel labour: The everyday experiences of social differentiation in customer‐oriented work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1165-1180, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:27:y:2020:i:6:p:1165-1180
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12454
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Linda McDowell & Adina Batnitzky & Sarah Dyer, 2008. "Internationalization and the Spaces of Temporary Labour: The Global Assembly of a Local Workforce," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(4), pages 750-770, December.
    2. Shelagh Mooney & Irene Ryan & Candice Harris, 2017. "The Intersections of Gender with Age and Ethnicity in Hotel Careers: Still the Same Old Privileges?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 360-375, July.
    3. Jenny Rodriguez & Evangelina Holvino & Joyce K. Fletcher & Stella M. Nkomo & Jenny K. Rodriguez & Evangelina Holvino & Joyce K. Fletcher & Stella M. Nkomo, 2016. "The Theory and Praxis of Intersectionality in Work and Organisations: Where Do We Go From Here?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 201-222, May.
    4. Karen Dale, 2001. "Anatomising Embodiment and Organisation Theory," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-333-99382-8.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alan Valenzuela-Bustos & Ana Gálvez-Mozo & Verna Alcalde-Gonzalez, 2023. "Invisible Room Attendants: Outsourcing as a Dispositive of (In)visibility and the Resistance of Las Kellys in Spain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(6), pages 1646-1663, December.
    2. Julia Coffey & Julia Cook & David Farrugia & Steven Threadgold & Penny Jane Burke, 2021. "Intersecting marginalities: International students' struggles for “survival” in COVID‐19," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1337-1351, July.
    3. Francesco E Iannuzzi & Devi Sacchetto, 2022. "Outsourcing and workers’ resistance practices in Venice’s hotel industry: The role of migrants employed by cooperatives," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 877-897, May.
    4. Vijayta Doshi, 2021. "Symbolic violence in embodying customer service work across the urban/rural divide," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 39-53, January.

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