Research on ‘care work’ tends to focus on relations between gender and ‘care’ at the cost of obfuscating caste and class markings that devalue such labour. This article argues that the service work of the contemporary nursing profession, as observed in Kolkata, continues to be devalued, not because it is care work but because it is linked to low-caste/out-caste women who have historically provided nursing care. To counter such stigma, nursing has witnessed a splintering along the lines of ‘prestigious’ and ‘dirty’ work. This cleavage, based on historically and socially produced structural inequalities, is supported both by organisational strategies and a privileged section of workers, who deploy ‘merit’ or cultural capital to close ranks against others. The article examines how women located at the bottom of this hierarchy resist such strategies. What does ritual, banal everyday resistance imply for processes and practices that reproduce organisational inequalities?

中文翻译：

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加尔各答的护理：劳动、权力和主观性的日常政治

对“照料工作”的研究往往侧重于性别与“照料”之间的关系，代价是混淆了贬低这种劳动价值的种姓和阶级标记。本文认为，正如在加尔各答所观察到的，当代护理专业的服务工作继续贬值，不是因为它是护理工作，而是因为它与历史上提供护理的低种姓/外种姓妇女有关。为了消除这种耻辱，护理业见证了“有声望”和“肮脏”工作的分裂。这种基于历史和社会产生的结构性不平等的分裂，得到了组织战略和一部分享有特权的工人的支持，他们利用“功绩”或文化资本来与他人保持密切的关系。这篇文章研究了处于这个等级制度底部的女性如何抵制这种策略。