ABSTRACT
Recent commentators (e.g., Willis 1977) have stated that domination depends on the consent of the dominated. Such a view, though tragic, seems optimistic. It is optimistic in the sense that coercive force is no longer necessary, despite a long history that would attest otherwise, in the operations of a now-civilized state. It is tragic in the sense that consent increasingly depends on the thorough brainwashing of consenting parties. In this case, what is consent? What is freedom, autonomy, or independence, the values held so sacred by the citizens of a democratically ruled society? In a paradoxical way, state incorporation of coercive power presents a more optimistic outlook than that of symbolic power, or rule through the less readily perceived mechanisms of hegemonic control. The present chapter explores a case in which certain citizens do not subscribe to dominant values and the discourses through which they are articulated. Direct and indirect mechanisms of power are combined in manufacturing the consent of women who are designated for positions upon which industrial capitalism depends most: menial wage labor. Indeed, women increasingly represent the body of labor serving the forces of production and consumption, both nationally and internationally (see, for example, Ong 1987).
