Working relationships are one of the most privileged arenas for renegotiating class and status distinctions, and the notion of “sliding down” is a common worry in many societies. In Madagascar the legacies of slavery powerfully haunt contemporary life, shaping the economic conditions and everyday power relations between employers and domestic workers. Socially isolated domestic workers often run the risk of “sliding down” the local ranked system of essentialized, endogamous status groups, a system that still divides families into three categories of origin: noble, common, and slave. While many employers try to reinforce their social prestige by “pushing others down,” domestic workers struggle to avoid being labeled and treated as a “slave.” Meanwhile, a global “neoabolitionist” movement may label these harsh forms of labor exploitation as a “new form of slavery,” but such labels might erode domestic workers’ efforts to de‐essentialize their stigmatized social position. [domestic work, status, class, slavery, Madagascar]

中文翻译：

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滑倒的风险

劳资关系是重新协商阶级和地位区别的最特权领域之一，“滑倒”的概念是许多社会普遍担心的问题。在马达加斯加，奴隶制的遗迹在当代生活中产生了强大的影响，塑造了雇主与家庭工人之间的经济状况和日常权力关系。社会上孤立的家庭佣工经常冒着“滑倒”当地等级制度的基本，配偶地位群体的风险，这种制度仍将家庭分为三类：贵族，普通和奴隶。尽管许多雇主试图通过“压低他人”来增强社会声望，但家庭佣工努力避免被贴上标签并被视为“奴隶”。与此同时，全球性的“新主义者”运动可能会将这些恶劣的劳动剥削形式标记为“奴隶制的新形式”，但是这样的标记可能会侵蚀家庭佣工去污化其污名化社会地位的努力。[家政工作，地位，阶级，奴隶制，马达加斯加]