Eileen Boris and Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, “Intimate Labors: Cultures, Technologies, and the Politics of Care—‘Introduction’”

One of the most striking features of contemporary global capitalism is the heightened commodification of intimacy that pervades social life.1 We not only seek to buy love, but also express devotion through goods and depend on services to fulfill obligations or display closeness to others. So did nineteenth-century Victorians in Britain, the United States, and throughout the British Empire. Our historical moment is distinguished by both the intensification of commodification and the subsequent crowding out of indigenous and alternative ways of being. But the monetization of daily life and the privatization of public goods still generate resistance in the broadest sense. People seek solace and joy on their own terms and develop collective challenges to their understanding of the good life.