The constitution and dynamics of the working class in casinos: clientelism and tips

Abstract

This article, based on ethnographic research, seeks to examine the constitution and social dynamics of the Portuguese casinos’ working class. The most relevant elements in the class experience of these professionals are the clientelism/nepotism present in the recruitment process of the casinos and the asymmetrical distribution of tips. If, on the one hand, these elements are mobilized by the workers, on the other, they are an integral part of the capitalist relations of exploitation and domination. Finally, it is argued that the position of structural subordination in the relationships between capital and labor, combined with the practices of social closure that guarantee relative occupational privileges to these workers, produces an eminently contradictory class habitus.