From benevolent maternalism to the market logic: exploring discursive boundary making in domestic work relations in India

Framed within a discussion of boundary work and its many facets, this article develops a critical understanding of the discourses that shape the material and symbolic hierarchies of power asserted by employers of domestic workers in Indian households. We analyze the nature of discourses that are mobilized in the boundary work practiced by different groups of employers in India as they negotiate their relationships with their domestic workers. Drawing on fieldwork in Mumbai and Chennai, our analysis outlines two different discourses within the nature of boundary work – one centered on the trope of benevolent maternalism and another which mobilizes a market-based trope – and delineate how these diverge and converge in the relationship between employers and domestic workers. We also show how these discourses differ according to two key factors: on the one hand, whether the employers hire full-time or part-time workers, and on the other hand, the specific positional attributes of the employers in terms of age, occupation, and family background. We argue that these two discursive categories are not watertight compartments, but are located on a spectrum, and that employers therefore exhibit elements of both maternalism and market-based approaches within the relationship with their workers.     

刑事司法中的母爱主义

我国的刑事法律经过多年发展，具有了一定的技术化特征，但往往是以武断、专横、惩罚和报复的面貌出现，抹杀了对具体的、感性的个体的关怀。技术化特征和法律形式主义是以男性为中心的法律的产物，表现为立法的父爱主义。而对具体的、感性的个体的关怀，是近年来日益凸显的刑事司法母爱主义的基本特征之一。刑事司法母爱主义关注社会问题、关注社会关系的修复、关注社会回归、关注青少年的成长和未来等富有感性的问题，从而使法律成为“有血有肉”的法律。导致其凸显的背景因素主要有：独生子女问题成为“公众论题”，女司法官人数的迅速增长，女权主义的兴起等。