Cleaners and Pop Culture Representation

Authors

  • Luis LM Aguiar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1705-1436.149

Abstract

Building cleaners are increasingly portrayed in pop culture. This article seeks to provide reasons for their increased visibility, and then examines precisely how they are constructed. The analysis reveals three overriding themes of representation: (1) cleaners as a discourse for Americanism; (2) cleaners as stand ins for the rehabilitation of ‘whiteness’; and (3) cleaners as endure the neoliberal workplace.

References

Aguiar, Luis LM and Andrew Herod (eds.). Cleaning Up the Global Economy. Malden, MA: Blackwell, (forthcoming) 2006.

Aguiar, Luis LM. (2004). “Resisting Neoliberalism in Vancouver: An Uphill Struggle for Cleaners.” Social Justice 31 (2).

Aguiar, Luis LM. (2000). “Restructuring and Employment Insecurities: The Case of Building Cleaners.” Canadian Journal of Urban Research 9 (1): 64-93.

Aguiar, Luis LM. (1999). "The ‘Dirt’ on the Building Cleaning Industry in Toronto: Ethnicity, Gender and the (Re) organization of Work." Unpublished Dissertation, Department of Sociology, York University.

Bello, Walden. (2002). Deglobalization. London: Zed, 2002.

Bread and Roses (Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2001).

Bruce Almighty (Universal, 2003).

Browder, Laura. (2000). Slippery Characters. Ethnic Impersonators and American Identities. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

Cohen, Marjorie. (2001). “Do Comparisons Between Hospital Support Workers and Hospitality Workers Make Sense? Vancouver, BC: Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU).

Cohen, Robin. (1997). Global Diasporas. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203228920

Collins, Patricia Hill. (2004). Black Sexual Politics: African American, Gender, and the New Racism. New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203309506

Davis, Mike. (2000). Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US City. New York: Verso.

Dirty Pretty Things (Miramax, 2002).

Ehrenreich, Barbara. (2001). Nickel and Dimed. New York: Metropolitan Books.

Erickson, Christopher et al. (2004). “Justice for Janitors in Los Angeles and Beyond: A New Form of Unionism in the Twenty-first Century?” In Phanindra Wunnava (ed.), The Changing Role of Unions. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Pp. 22-58.

Good Will Hunting (Miramax, 1997).

Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette. (2001). Domestica. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hood, Jane. (1988). “From Night to Day: Timing and the Management of Custodial Work.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 17 (1): 96-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241688171004

Hume, Christopher. (1994). “Kelley’s Art Born in Trash Bin.” Toronto Star. 8 January: J7.

Klein, Naomi. (2002). Fences and Windows. Toronto: Vintage.

Koptiuch, Kristin.(1991). “Third-Worlding at Home.” Social Text 28: 87-99. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/466378

Leidner, Robin. (1993). Fast Food, Fast Service. Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress.

Lipsitz, George. (1998). The Possessive Investment in Whiteness. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Macdonald, Diane. (1997). “Sectoral Certification: A Case Study of British Columbia.” Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal 5/6: 243-286.

McDowell, Linda. (1997). Capital Culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470712894

Messing, Karen, C. Haentjens and G. Doniol-Shaw. (1992). “L’invisible

Necessaire: l’activite de nettoyage de toilettes sur le trains de voyageurs en gare.” Le Travail Humain 55 (4): 353-370.

Milkman, Ruth (ed.). (2000). Organizing Immigrants: The Challenge for Unions in Contemporary California. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501728839

Milkman, Ruth and Kent Wong. (2000). Voces desde la Lucha. Los Angeles: Centro para investigacion y education laboral de UCLA.

Rasmussen, Brigit et al. “Introduction.” In Brigit Rasmussen et al. (eds.) (2001),The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness. Durham, NC: Duke UniversityPress. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822381044-001

Rothenberg, Paula (ed.). (2002). White. New York: Worth Publishers.

Sassen, Saskia. (1999). “Whose City Is It? Globalization and the Formation of New Claims.” In Robert Beauregard and Sophie Body-Gendrot (eds.), The Urban Moment. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage: 99-118.

Sassen, Saskia. (1991). The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Sawhney, Deepak Narang (ed.). (2002). Unmasking LA. New York: Palgrave. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230107236

Sklair, Leslie. (2003). Globalization, Capitalism and its Alternatives. New York: Oxford University Press.

Starr, Amory. (2001). Naming the Enemy. London: Zed.

The Fugitive (Warner Brothers, 1993).

Waldinger, Roger and Michael Lichter. (2003). How the Other Half Works. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Waldinger, Roger, Chris Erickson, Ruth Milkman, Daniel Mitchell, Abel

Valenzuela, Kent Wong, and Maurice Zeitlin. “Helots No More: A Case Study of the Justice for Janitors Campaign in Los Angeles.” In Kate Bronfenbrenner, Rudolph Oswald, Sheldon Friedman, Ronald Seeber and Richard Hurd (eds.), Organizing to Win: New Research on Union Strategies. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press, 1998. Pp. 102-119.

Winant, Howard. (1997). “Behind Blure Eyes: Whiteness and Contemporary US Racial Politics.” New Left Review 225: 73-88. http://www.salon.com/ent/masterpiece/2002/04/15/teen_spirit/index2.html http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/dirty_pretty_things.html

Downloads

Published

— Updated on 2005-01-01

Versions

  • 2005-01-01 (2)
  • (1)

How to Cite

Aguiar, L. L. (2005). Cleaners and Pop Culture Representation. Just Labour, 5. https://doi.org/10.25071/1705-1436.149

Issue

Section

Special Section