Introduction to Roundtable on Global Woman

Abstract

For this roundtable discussion of Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild's anthology, Global Woman, the editors of SGS asked five psychoanalytic thinkers to comment on the collection. That highly important volume has as its theme the global transfer from the Third World to the First World of female labor forces that work in the sex trade or become mail-order brides, maids, nannies, and other kinds of caretakers. Ehrenreich and Hochschild then respond to the psychoanalytic essays. The introduction discusses some of the themes raised both in the book and in the responses. It highlights some of the places where a psychoanalytic and a sociological view complement each other and places where they might clash. The roundtable raises two important questions: what can psychoanalysis contribute to understanding the intrapsychic and interpersonal dislocations wrought by globalization; and what is globalization's effect on the practice of psychoanalysis?