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Utility Manning: Young Filipino Men, Servitude and the Moral Economy of Becoming a Seafarer and Attaining Adulthood

Author

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  • Roderick G Galam

Abstract

To get a job as a seafarer in the global maritime industry, thousands of male Filipino youths work for free as ‘utility men’ for manning agencies that supply seafarers to ship operators around the world. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and approached from a moral economy perspective, this article examines how manning agencies and utility men differentially rationalize this exploitative work (utility manning). Manning agencies use it as a technology of servitude that, through physical and verbal abuse and other techniques, enforces docility to prepare utility men for the harsher conditions on-board a ship. In contrast, utility men use it as a technology of imagination, gleaning from it a capacity to shape their future. Faced with few social possibilities in the Philippines, they deploy servitude as a strategy for attaining economic mobility and male adulthood.

Suggested Citation

  • Roderick G Galam, 2019. "Utility Manning: Young Filipino Men, Servitude and the Moral Economy of Becoming a Seafarer and Attaining Adulthood," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(4), pages 580-595, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:33:y:2019:i:4:p:580-595
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017018760182
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alderton, Tony & Winchester, Nik, 2002. "Globalisation and de-regulation in the maritime industry," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 35-43, January.
    2. Scott, James C., 1972. "Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast Asia," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 91-113, March.
    3. Sharon Bolton & Maeve Houlihan & Knut Laaser, 2012. "Contingent Work and Its Contradictions: Towards a Moral Economy Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 121-132, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Farrugia, 2026. "Lay Moralities of Young Workers and the Moral Economy of Service Labour," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 40(2), pages 295-313, April.

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