5 Assignment 10

The article explores a less exposed aspect of analyzing a snapshot of today’s global economy and how existing and highly developed capitalistic societies affect other societies that have not been privatized to an extreme degree. The authors quickly establish the concept of global migration and how it is not so deeply explored beyond the conditions of the work itself and the material exchange gain of the workers and employers (the hiring class of these first world countries) (Devi, 2008:406). They, instead, focus on the social effect it has on the families of migrant workers who seek service work.

Through a numerous set of examples, the authors effectively illustrate the demand for domestic labor in first world countries and the ability for mothers in third world countries to fulfill it. The first negative effect is that the country that exports this labor may actually be in need of these laborers. Some countries may not, however. The commonality between these types of economy is the stress pushed onto families.

The authors define the commons as being anything that is shared in a community, a place where favors are exchanged, and where families and communities can gather and share their company. This does not exist to the degree it once use to in the capitalistic north countries as they do in the south countries. Mothers will migrate to these countries to secure a job in this privatized market. What they leave behind are children that will then need to be cared for by other family members, or friends. This will put stress on the children as it will for the mothers since it forces them to rationalize these broken relationships, with an implication that there is little to no guidance by the authors.

The importance of this issue is expressed as a necessary component of properly analyzing the effect of countries as a whole. This loss of the commons cause by the empty space left behind by an absent mother can have cultural wide negative effects. The siphoning of migrant mothers from their commons-culture societies to satisfy a capitalist society’s’ labor demands can have lasting effects as the effected children may grow up emotionally and physiologically damaged

Alfie Corteza

Professor Bullock

Assignment #10

In “Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?” by Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Devi, a commons is a practice originating from the 15th century that allowed villagers to acquire resources from the shared land, a somewhat give and take principle. However, the 21st-century version of the commons is the migration of third world countries making tertiary sector jobs of being nannies, nurses, and other servitude different kind of occupations. Women from third world countries from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kerala, and Ukraine are deprived of mothers as they migrate to Western European countries and The United States as the pay there are substantially better compared to the educated occupations within their own country. As much as this sounds beneficial on all fronts, the demand is fulfilled, and the supplies being paid well an issue arises with the family left behind. The problem is that the mothers working abroad are there for many months even years to send back money as remittances, at the cost of not seeing their children and family. As a result, the children and also infants in the hands of other family members or even neighbors grow a detachment and resentment to their absent mothers as the children consider them selfish and unkindly.There was evidence shown that the father left behind would not take proper care of the child, and would result with other female relatives to take care of them. If the father were to go, and the mother to stay behind the mother would have to take both parental roles as mother and father. It also affects the child’s education as it was revealed that the children missing one or both of their children performed worse than their counterparts whose parents are consistently present in their lives. These children also hold a resentment as they question the absent parent’s love for them. Hothschild, Isaksen, and Devi piece “Global Care Crisis” points out the issues of expatriate workers on their own lives, and those that they leave behind in their mother country.

In “Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?” Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Davi talk about the various concepts surrounding migration, including some of its hidden aspects. First, they mention that the number of female migrants is increasing compared to male migrants, most of them being young mothers of multiple children. This influences places where the female population is migrating out to the North to look for jobs, causing a decrease in the working population in the South. The women who choose to migrate must leave her family, which has several consequences. The mothers must leave behind their children in the care of her husband, grandparents, relatives, and sometimes neighbors. This impacts the child in such that they must grow up without the special love and connection that only mothers can provide. They may be more economically stable than their peers but will feel left out and envious of those who live with their mothers. Moreover, they can start doubting whether their parents really love them or not, and wonder whether the money and gifts they are receiving from their migrant mothers really represent love or just commitment. In such ways, children are very much affected by having to live apart from their migrant mothers. In the case of the mother herself, the act of leaving her place in a community deprives her family and the community of the caring and emotional relational exchanges that would have occurred had she not left. There is the challenge of weighing the benefit of the monetary stability and sustaining important relationships. “The Commons” represents a community that is bonded through the exchange of favors and the resulting growth in trust and dependence of one another. This is a healthy social development that is being disrupted through the increase in female migration, because it keeps the mothers away from being involved with the family and community, at least to the degree that would have occurred had she not left to earn money. Such are the hidden costs of being mothers who migrate to support and raise up her family.

In the article “Global Care Crisis” by Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Devi, they discuss the extents that women go, to provide for their families. The discussion of how mothers migrate from foreign countries such as the Philippines, to America, in search of jobs, is prevalent in the discussion of the “commons.” The “commons” can generally referred to as resources held in a community, and what the person gives and receives from that community. These mothers who often leave many children back in their own country, face a difficult decision of whether or not to leave to a foreign country to look for work. Many mothers feel proud of working overseas, but feel terrible about leaving their children without a mother. Mothers often face a backlash, being accused of being a bad mother and selfish for leaving their kids without a mother. Mothers from foreign countries often become caretakers, nannies, nurses, and housekeepers. This is considered a global chain because they leave their children to go take care of other children. The children that are left without a mother to care for them affects the system of the commons. The community of children are left with this hole in their life without a mother. In the commons, where communities are very close and rely on each other, often fall apart due to the large amount of children without mothers. A potential solution to this problem is allowing these children to join their mothers in the journey for work. It would allow for a better relationship along with being able to care for your own children. Although, it creates imbalance in society, when there are so many children left to fend for themselves in a foreign country. It could also cause mothers to potentially lose money if they were to bring their children with them. The cost of caring for children is vastly high, nowadays, and it creates another imbalance because even if mothers are making more than they did before, they will still struggle caring for their children at a low paying job. This is a problem that will require research and a lot of potential solutions.

Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Devi discuss “the commons” of migration and its connections to financial and social capitals, and to children’s relational world in “Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?”. The article talks about how mothers from southern countries (South America, Northern Africa, etc) will leave their children in the care of others to migrate to more economically stable northern countries (North America, South Europe, etc.) to care for children not of their own. In doing so, these migrants are able to make much more money that they can send back home to cover a series of expenses they otherwise would struggle to pay. Theses global care chains move social capital from these southern countries to the north and takes financial capital and sends it to the south. I think the authors’ concerns surrounding the concept of “the commons” is that these migrant workers look at their migration as a private struggle. Yet, these migrants are a part of a socio-emotional common community; if they don’t recognize this common between one another, discussions about this migration as a public issue will cease to exist. Another issue the authors find is that people look at these migrants and only see the advantages of the situation. Yet there are costs these women pay for being migrants. Many constantly worry about the care of their own children and feel a sense of shame in being viewed as “bad mothers” for leaving their children. Other costs pertain to these migrant children’s relational world, which is filled with feelings of doubt, sadness, and envy. I think the authors wish to reframe the mindset that these migrants are only gaining from this situation, that there are large social repercussions these migrants face; and the sooner we view these migrants as a common community, we can open more discussions concerning such.

In the article “Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?” , behavioral scientist Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Devi discuss the migrant mother’s from Southern countries like the Philippines, who migrate to the countries in the north like the United States of America. These women migrate to other countries as a means to make money to support their families. They add human capital to their family income by becoming wet nurses, housekeepers, and caregivers in other countries, making up to four or five times the amount of what they would make being teachers, or clerical workers in their own country. The care chain runs globally, where mothers leave their children in the care of family to then care for other families children in different countries. The “commons” the writers of the article write about refers to the community of families everyone individually belongs to, within the care chain. This network creates a tight-knit environment where everyone relies on one another for support, by working and giving. The argument arises when these mothers leave their own children to care for other children. The kids left behind are left with fathers or grandparents yet miss the opportunity of having an authentic mother child relationships, and more often become depressed. Keeping the capital of all countries in mind the writers believe that extending the workers permits to allow children to be with their mothers would potentially improve the behaviors of the children and mother’s, allowing the mother’s to make more money, and making everyone happy. However as the mothers migrate it is creating a void for care in their own countries and along with the favor exchange within commons creates an unequal balance that is felt ultimately felt by the children, leaving them sad and distressed. Perhaps it is too far fetched an idea to have the children tag along with their mothers to jobs in other countries. Though it would help the cost of care that is being sent to the mothers homes, the cost of caring for the child in a different country would be greater.

Due Sunday, November 12th, by midnight. Word count, at least 300 words. You may include a brief quotation, but be sure this is followed by your interpretation of the text and include the proper citation (either MLA or APA). Late assignments will be accepted for partial credit if they are submitted no later than one week after the original deadline.

In “Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?” Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Devi argue that we must focus on the concept of “the commons” to understand South-North migration. Explain the meaning of this concept as it relates to the concerns addressed by these authors. Why do they believe we require this concept of the commons, in addition to the concept of capital, to understand the critical issues related to migration and, in particular, those connected to a child’s “relational world” (2008:418)?