Emotional labour and racialised subordination in the service sector: A study of migrants’ server experiences in Sweden’s catering industry

Abstract

This dissertation explores the implications of ethnic penalties and of emotional labour on the ethnic segmentation of Sweden’s labour market. Taking the catering industry as a critical case, this study examines foreign-born migrants’ experiences of recruiting processes, employment terms and conditions, and practices associated with emotional labour. Using a grounded theory methodology, the abductive coding approach reveals an overarching framework that intertwines institutional discrimination and emotional labour, with experiences resonating through theoretical concepts such as ethnic penalties, racialisation, symbolic violence, emotional labour, and interpellation. The findings suggest that foreignborn migrant servers experience dual labour subordination. First, they experience institutional discrimination through hiring practices that label them as suitable for low-wage, low-skilled, and labour-intensive jobs. Second, as servers, they experience emotional labour as a form of symbolic violence, raising boundaries between them and Swedish natives. Therefore, emotional labour in “migrant jobs” reinforces experiences of racialised subordination and the process whereby foreign-born migrants are moved to the periphery of the Swedish labour market.