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Class Acts Rachel Sherman

Class Acts By Rachel Sherman

Class Acts by Rachel Sherman


£7.74
Condition - Very Good
Out of stock

Summary

Goes behind the scenes in two urban luxury hotels to give a picture of the workers who care for and cater to wealthy guests. This work offers an analysis of what the luxury service consists of, how managers organize its production, and how workers and guests negotiate the inequality between them.

Class Acts Summary

Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels by Rachel Sherman

In this lively study, Rachel Sherman goes behind the scenes in two urban luxury hotels to give a nuanced picture of the workers who care for and cater to wealthy guests by providing seemingly unlimited personal attention. Drawing on in-depth interviews and extended ethnographic research in a range of hotel jobs, including concierge, bellperson, and housekeeper, Sherman gives an insightful analysis of what exactly luxury service consists of, how managers organize its production, and how workers and guests negotiate the inequality between them. She finds that workers employ a variety of practices to assert a powerful sense of self, including playing games, comparing themselves to other workers and guests, and forming meaningful and reciprocal relations with guests. Through their contact with hotel staff, guests learn how to behave in the luxury environment and come to see themselves as deserving of luxury consumption. These practices, Sherman argues, help make class inequality seem normal, something to be taken for granted. Throughout, Class Acts sheds new light on the complex relationship between class and service work, an increasingly relevant topic in light of the growing economic inequality in the United States that underlies luxury consumption.

About Rachel Sherman

Rachel Sherman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Yale University.

Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Luxury Service and the New Economy 1. Better Than Your Mother: The Luxury Product 2. Managing Autonomy 3. Games, Control, and Skill 4. Recasting Hierarchy 5. Reciprocity, Relationship, and Revenge 6. Producing Entitlement Conclusion: Class, Culture, and the Service Theater Appendix A: Methods Appendix B: Hotel Organization Appendix C: Jobs, Wages, and Nonmanagerial Workers in Each Hotel: 2000--2001 Notes References Index

Additional information

GOR008386741
9780520247826
0520247825
Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels by Rachel Sherman
Used - Very Good
Paperback
University of California Press
20070117
373
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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