Domestic Servitude: Socio-Cultural Isolation and Coercive Labour Relations in Peru

Abstract

This article proposes a historical-sociological lens to approach coercive and violent relations within remunerated household labor. Drawing from Orlando Patterson, these relations are understood as interpersonal relations of domination with the concept of domestic servitude. They are analyzed in a qualitative empirical case study on socio-culturally isolated domestic workers in Lima, Peru. While the paper attends to scholars concerning migration and domestic work, its main sociological contribution is to empirically and theoretically enrich debates on “unfreedom” beyond economic exploitation. It argues for a reflective and differentiated elaboration on socialcultural dimensions of coercion and violence that are embedded in colonial and patriarchal power structures.