EMBODIED SERVICE AND THE POLITICS OF APPEARANCE, AESTHETIC LABOUR IN PAKISTAN'S HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Abstract

This research is focused on the practice, experience and negotiation of aesthetic labor which requires that the body, voice, behavior and emotions of workers need to be physically, vocally, behaviorally and emotionally fit in accordance with the brand. The research was conducted on the qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews with 15 female frontline workers of Serena Hotel Islamabad and the findings of the research revealed that aesthetic labor in Pakistan is located at the intersection of the organization, control, gender inequality, cultural norms and class-based hierarchies. The results show that the hotel sector female employees are under constant control in terms of their appearance and are pressured to add their own money to change their appearance according to their organization's beauty standards, and they face discomfort in balancing their work identity and religious and family values. The study proposes a new aesthetic capital concept as an embodied capital, according to Bourdieu, that can impact the hiring, delegating jobs and promotion. The key is to identify these dynamics in the socio-cultural context of Pakistan, where high power distance, economic vulnerability and a patriarchal mindset combine with the plight of the aesthetic labor and seriously limit workers' ability to resist. The paper thus contributes to the international aesthetic labor literature in three ways: the empirical basis, the culturally located analysis, and lack of analysis in a context of a non-Western developing country.