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Migration, service work, and masculinity in the global South: Private security guards in post‐socialist China

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  • Susanne Y. P. Choi
  • Siran Li

Abstract

Past research on service work and masculinity has focused on men in traditionally feminized occupations or men in celebrated male‐dominated occupations in the global North, thus neglecting the experiences of men in low status, male‐dominated, and supposedly “masculine” service occupations in the global South. This article attempts to fill the gap by illustrating the problematic connections between work and masculinity among rural‐to‐urban male migrant workers in low paid private security guarding in South China. It examines how macrostructural forces of labor precarization, growing class inequalities, and the emergence of a discourse of consumer supremacy in post‐socialist China has rendered the instrumental, symbolic, and social connections between work and masculinity problematic for this group of workers. It also describes five different strategies employed by these workers to achieve a sense of manhood: practicing combative masculinity; practicing toxic masculinity; constructing a discourse of professionalism; emphasizing their fulfillment of familial responsibility; and espousing an entrepreneurial aspiration.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Y. P. Choi & Siran Li, 2021. "Migration, service work, and masculinity in the global South: Private security guards in post‐socialist China," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 641-655, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:2:p:641-655
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12605
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tamika Alana Perrott, 2019. "Doing hot and ‘dirty’ work: Masculinities and occupational identity in firefighting," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(10), pages 1398-1412, October.
    2. Natasha Slutskaya & Ruth Simpson & Jason Hughes & Alexander Simpson & Selçuk Uygur, 2016. "Masculinity and Class in the Context of Dirty Work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 165-182, March.
    3. Jin Lee & Melika Shirmohammadi & Lisa M. Baumgartner & Jihye Oh & Soo Jeoung Han, 2019. "Warriors in suits: A Bourdieusian perspective on the construction and practice of military masculinity of Korean men," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(10), pages 1467-1488, October.
    4. Matthew S. Johnston & Edwin Hodge, 2014. "‘Dirt, Death and Danger? I Don't Recall Any Adverse Reaction …’: Masculinity and the Taint Management of Hospital Private Security Work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(6), pages 546-558, November.
    5. Homi Kharas, 2010. "The Emerging Middle Class in Developing Countries," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 285, OECD Publishing.
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