The moral space and the logic of collective self-organisation of domestic workers in Chennai, India

Abstract

Our overarching contribution in this chapter is the claim that a shared “moral topography” (Taylor, 1994) of lower classes can create forms of collective ‘consciousness’ which may lead to collective action. In order to establish that a shared moral topography is an incremental prerequisite for creating practical spaces for self-organisation, the chapter outlines Charles Taylor’s concept of morality, “moral topography”, “moral space and actions” as well as the concept of “identity”. Empirical data show that the moral topography of domestic workers in Chennai (Tamil Nadu, India) is characterized by a shared meaning and collective experiences of injustice. Further empirical evidence demonstrates that due to this common understanding of injustice, domestic workers in Chennai start organising themselves informally and establishing trade unions. Through self-organisation, domestic workers meet a demand for social security which the state fails to provide. The fieldwork of this qualitative study was conducted within and funded by the European Project FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IRSES “URBANSELF - A North-South-Network on Urban Self-Organisation and Public Life in Europe, India and China” (2011-2014) which was scientifically coordinated by Prof. Dr. Ruediger Korff. We would like to share this academic achievement with him, in honour of and appreciation for years of fruitful and contradictory discussions – including those on administrative and financial issues that sometimes proved to be exhaustive and ‘painful’ – during our joint endeavour, URBANSELF.