Trafficker Next Door: How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers

Rhacel Salazar ParreƱas

Book cover for Trafficker Next Door: How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers
Book cover for Trafficker Next Door: How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers

Trafficker Next Door: How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers

Trafficker Next Door: How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers

Rhacel Salazar ParreƱas

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Description

"Kaya mo ba?" Can you take it? An instructor asks this of a group of migrant workers in the Philippines, as they prepare for domestic work in wealthier countries. Can you take the grueling work? "Kaya," the women say. "We can."

The phrase "human trafficking" often conjures nightmarish images of sexual exploitation, but Rhacel Salazar ParreƱas reveals that the vast majority of trafficking victims are domestic workers who suffer abuse not at the hands of shadowy crime lords but rather "ordinary" family employers.

Drawing on twenty years of groundbreaking research across three continents, ParreƱas exposes the grim realities faced by migrant workers ensnared in forced labor due to poverty and debt bondage. She uncovers how entrenched social and legal norms, coupled with a patronizing "employer savior complex," foster a troubling sense of ownership among employers over "their" domestic workers.

Through powerful firsthand accounts--including harrowing stories of workers living in hot, windowless rooms, experiencing food deprivation, having their makeup, jewelry, and phones confiscated, and having their wages stolen--ParreƱas illustrates the migrants' desperation, and the power dynamics that lead to a global network of exploitation. ParreƱas's urgent narrative challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about everyday household arrangements and calls for justice and fair treatment for all workers.

Critical Reviews

If you have ever wondered how domestic workers could be mistreated and exploited by the very people who rely upon them, this book explores this profound question. In the process, we understand the true urgency of Rhacel Salazar ParreƱas's call to action for employers and institutions to establish dignity and respect for the workers who enable families and economies to thrive.--Ai-jen Poo, author of The Age of Dignity and President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance

Rhacel Salazar ParreƱas has done it again! The culmination of twenty years of researching global migration, The Trafficker Next Door shows how the hidden abode of domestic labor can so easily slide into forced labor, how workers resist or put up with it, and how employers justify inhumane exploitation. A must read for anyone concerned with labor rights or human rights.--Michael Burawoy, author of Manufacturing Consent and former president of the American Sociological Association

The Trafficker Next Door makes the case that we must recognize the fusion of personal, cultural, legal, and structural components of live-in domestic work to eliminate trafficking in our country, neighborhoods, and homes.--Mary Romero, author of The Maid's Daughter and former President of the American Sociological Association

Award-winning sociologist Rhacel Salazar ParreƱas explains the warped psychology and perfectly legal practices that allow modern-day slavery to persist.--Christine L. Williams, author of Gaslighted and former President of the American Sociological Association

A righteous indictment of elite greed and hypocrisy.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Publishing Information

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Pub date: 2025-09-02
Length: 176 pages

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