The perfect worker: discursive makings of Filipinos in the workplace hierarchy of the globalized cruise industry

Abstract

Filipinos are by far the largest nationality represented on cruise ships despite the fact that cruise lines can hire from wherever they choose. The reasons for this phenomenon lie in a mélange of political, economic, and cultural factors, yet when polled, industry insiders repeatedly cite well-worn Filipino stereotypes as the primary cause. This reflects a system in which discourses surrounding workers become fixed in ways that ideologically frame Filipinos as docile and compliant yet industrious and inexpensive. Filipinos are thus constructed as readymade workers for subordinate positions rather than for roles as leaders on the ship. This case shows the subtle ways that labor becomes stratified along ethnic lines and how discourses become the fault lines that define and reproduce the great inequalities between different groups of workers. The task of this article is to understand the ways that discourses relate to the workplace positioning of Filipino seafarers and reinforce a reading of ‘Filipino-ness’ that marks them as the perfect sort of worker for the cruise lines. It is further suggested that such framings are subject to revision via worker agency and changing socioeconomic labor market conditions.