Arlie Hochschild,author of Global Woman:Nannies,Maids & Sex Workers in the Global Economy

Arlie Russell Hochschild discusses her work, and her books: Global Woman, Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, The Managed Heart and The Commercialization of Intimate Life.

"Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy …. examines the phenomenon of the feminization of migrant labor, "legal" and "illegal," on a global scale in the last few decades—especially that involving the typical pattern of migration from poor to rich countries—and shines a light on important aspects of how this serves to perpetuate the imperialist system and the "lifestyles" of those in more privileged positions within the imperialist citadels, such as the U.S., a parasitism which, to no small degree, requires the hardships and often brutal exploitation—including outright slavery, particularly in the case of many trapped in the "sex industry"—endured by millions and millions of these women migrant workers. ” from Bob Avakian’s talk, “Unresolved Contradictions and Driving Forces for Revolution.”


A sociologist at U.C. Berkeley, Arlie Hochschild is the winner of the A.S.A. Jessie Bernard Award, and the 2000 Public Understanding of Sociology Award. Three of her books were selected as “notable books of the year” by the New York Times Book Review and plays were based on two. Her work has been translated into 14 languages. She’s finishing a book to be called, So Close to Home: intimate life on the market frontier.