Image by Kimberli from Flickr Creative Commons: https://flic.kr/p/4pdoJk
Trouble in the Nail Industry
How can we address labor rights violations in nail salons without making immigrant workers more vulnerable, painting all nail salon owners with a single brush, and fueling anti-immigrant sentiment? What can sociology bring to this conversation?
Sarah Maslin Nir’s recent two-part series in the New York Times, “The Price of Nice Nails” and “Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers” brings in-depth investigation and much needed attention to labor rights violations, toxic exposures and occupational health issues in New York City nail salons.
This is a story that needs telling, but how we tell stories is as important as that we tell them. I applaud and agree with much of Nir’s reporting. But some of her language and arguments run the risk of blaming immigrant small business owners for conditions they alone did not create and cannot fix by themselves. At the same time, it lets others, especially customers, mostly off the hook.
In this post, I apply various sociological concepts to fill in some gaps in the NYT coverage of problems in the nail industry.
Nir addresses many factors that contribute to exploitative working conditions in nail salons, but she asserts most strongly that a “rigid racial and ethnic caste system reigns in modern-day New York City, dictating not only pay but also how workers are treated.” She then describes how Korean workers are the highest paid, next Chinese, then Hispanics and non-Asians. Racial and ethnic hierarchies without a doubt exist within the salons, but are they the main force dictating how workers are paid and how they are treated?
We sociologists call this the problem of determining salience. How strong of a factor is this racial and ethnic wage gap in shaping the sub-standard pay and working conditions in the salons? In my own research, I found similar practices in which Korean workers are paid more than other workers, but being the highest paid workers in an industry whose entire wage structure is suppressed is hardly winning the lottery. It does not result in some workers being winners and other losers, but in some workers scraping by with a few more dollars in their pockets.
The conditions in these salons—as in many other workplaces–emerge through a complex chain of customer demand for cheap, quick services, lack of regulation, lax enforcement of existing laws, globalized labor migration flows, and ultimately, the bottom line of profit-driven, winner-take-all markets and mentalities. In some places, Nir’s article recognizes this. But in others, it veers into stories of Mercedes and Cadillac-driving Korean owners with undocumented workers crammed into their basements.
How are these two story lines connected? Sociologists refer to this as making micro-macro linkages. Korean immigrants, and all small business owners, make choices about how to run their businesses, but to paraphrase Marx, not in circumstances of their own choosing. Nail salon owners must be held responsible for violating labor laws. But they cannot be held solely responsible for causing and fixing deep-rooted social problems and inequalities.
This brings us to the problem of generalizability. Nir conducted extensive interviews, over a hundred. This is formidable and committed reporting. But does it take into account that people who are willing to tell their stories often have the most horrific stories to tell? This in no way invalidates their stories, but it asks how representative they are. Are her respondents what we refer to as outliers, people on the extreme side of an industry with a great deal of variation?
Like Nir, I have also interviewed over a hundred people connected to the nail industry, and I conducted field work in over a dozen salons over the course of over a decade. I have seen many changes in the industry, and even significant changes in a single salon, as owners, workers and customers turn over rapidly. I have seen labor conditions similar to those described by Nir, but I have also seen thousands of mundane interactions in which workers perform manicures for relatively decent wages in mostly decent working conditions, although potentially toxic exposures are always looming in the air. These interactions also need to be part of the story.
My hope is that the NYT coverage will open rather than foreclose more in-depth conversations focused on cooperative, sustained, and multi-pronged approaches to reforming the nail industry. And that sociologists, journalists, policy makers, advocates, owners, workers and customers can work together for industry-wide changes, without vilifying immigrants or making them more vulnerable.
Recommended resources
Roelofs, Cora and Tuan Do. 2012. “Exposure assessment in nail salons: an indoor air approach.” International Scholarly Research Notices Public Health.
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. “The Nail Salon Industry and the Impact of Cosmetic Toxins on API Women’s Reproductive Health.” February 2008.
National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance. | link
Miliann Kang is Associate Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and affiliated faculty in Sociology and Asian/Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the author of The Managed Hand: Race, Gender and the Body in Beauty Service Work.
Comments 21
Josna
May 12, 2015Thank you for this corrective, Miliann. I had been been hoping you would weigh in, knowing that you would be the best person to do so, and having felt unease ever since this story broke.
Liana Bali
May 13, 2015Thank you.
Sujatha Fernandes
May 13, 2015I was really pleased to see the Times article address this issue of nail salon workers, as many community-based organizations have been fighting these issues for a long time. My main concern about the Times piece was that the Nir didn't talk about groups like Adhikaar who have been organizing nail salon workers for a long time and I was surprised to see that Kang doesn't mention these kinds of organizing efforts either. There is a very good piece on this by Michelle Chen in The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/blog/206913/how-can-you-get-ethical-manicure-support-worker-organizing#
Miliann Kang
November 16, 2015Thanks for the comments and sorry for the delay in responding. Sujatha, you're absolutely right that the organizing efforts of groups like Adhikaar and the NY Healthy Nail Salons Coalition need highlighting. I didn't include them in this piece as I was trying to get another piece out with some of the organizers on that topic but you're right that this is an important omission. See http://www.wcwonline.org/Women-s-Review-of-Books/womens-review-of-books
Wanda Turner
June 15, 2018In some places, Nir’s article recognizes this. But in others, it veers into stories of Mercedes and Cadillac-driving Korean owners with undocumented workers crammed into their basements. bullet force multiplayer
hkm
October 1, 2018As you know that most of the people loves to play dice games in their free time then from here you will play yahtzee game online without any pay and app installation. The goal in the yahtzee is to throw the dice on the board all together and eliminate your rival by playing your moves.
Nail salon near me
October 15, 2018I was recommended this website by way of my cousin. I'm now not positive whether or not this
post is written by means of him as nobody else understand such special approximately
my problem. You're wonderful! Thank you!
wii point cards codes
October 17, 2018quite interesting post
wii point cards codes
Danielle Phillips
January 14, 2019A manicurist or nail professional is a person whose occupation is to style and shape an individual's nails. This is achieved using a combination of decorating nails with I need an assignment and shaded varnish, transfers, gems or glitter. Basic treatments include nail manicures and pedicures, as well as cleaning and filing nails and applying for false nails or extensions.
blakelively
February 1, 2019I discovered comparable practices in which Korean people are paid more than different people, however being the very best paid workers in an enterprise whose complete wage shape is suppressed is infrequently triumphing the lottery. It does now not result in a few workers being winners and different losers, but in a few employees scraping with the aid of with a few more bucks in their wallet UK Assignment Writing Service.
temple run 3
December 7, 2019My main concern about the Times piece was that the Nir didn't talk about groups like Adhikaar who have been organizing nail salon workers for a long time and I was surprised to see that Kang doesn't mention these kinds of organizing efforts either. temple run 3
temple run
December 14, 2019I'm now not positive whether or not this
post is written by means of him as nobody else understand such special approximately
my problem. You're wonderful! Thank you! temple run
Allen Hicks
April 14, 2020It should be an option review a place with no stars.
There are no excuses for me to pay over $100 for a transmission flush and 3 weeks later when I get an oil change somewhere else and they tell me I need to get my
transmission flushed ASAP .. So what were they doing while I sat in the waiting room for over an hour, waiting for my
car to have it's transmission flushed ?
hire a grant writer
May 15, 2020Many students do not have the time to spend writing a term paper as they are swamped with their education and may also have a job. If you are one of them, grab some help here
Jessicawatson
May 15, 2020Many students do not have the time to spend writing a term paper as they are swamped with their education and may also have a job. If you are one of them, hire a grant writer and grab some help here
Sassol
July 16, 2020Sassol web content writer assist established organizations and small startups in building brand identities. With the help of our digital tactics, we can creatively make our clients’ brand websites and secure digital platforms from malicious hacks and data breaches as well as market their brands on a national and international levels.
Matt Henry
September 18, 2020Magnificent article, a debt of gratitude is in order for assembling this! This is clearly one extraordinary post. A debt of gratitude is in order for the important data and experiences you have so given here. Latest School News in Nigeria
ana emmy
October 10, 2020TCZ web content writer assist established organizations and small startups in building brand identities. With the help of our digital tactics, we can creatively make our clients’ brand websites and secure digital platforms from malicious hacks and data breaches as well as market their brands on a national and international levels.
ana emmy
October 10, 2020TCZ ( http://tinycodezone.com/) web content writer assist established organizations and small startups in building brand identities. With the help of our digital tactics, we can creatively make our clients’ brand websites and secure digital platforms from malicious hacks and data breaches as well as market their brands on a national and international levels.
anna
October 10, 2020<a href="http://tinycodezone.com/" TCZ web content writer assist established organizations and small startups in building brand identities. With the help of our digital tactics, we can creatively make our clients’ brand websites and secure digital platforms from malicious hacks and data breaches as well as market their brands on a national and international levels.
anna
October 10, 2020TCZ web content writer assist established organizations and small startups in building brand identities. With the help of our digital tactics, we can creatively make our clients’ brand websites and secure digital platforms from malicious hacks and data breaches as well as market their brands on a national and international levels.