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Brandeis University

Publication Date

Fall 2021

Program Name

Morocco: Multiculturalism and Human Rights

Abstract

This work explores the relationship between a nation’s economic shift to hospitality labor and a lower standard of living among the working class in said country. Specifically, the Moroccan economy’s gradual increased reliance on service labor, particularly within the tourism industry. Standard of living in this work will be centered around wellbeing understood through vocational fulfillment and perceptions of hospitality labor among service workers. In order to evaluate the standard of living among the working class, this work will utilize a comparative assessment of key interviews from three key sectors of the hospitality labor force: autonomist, alienated, and hospitality adjacent labor. All cases illuminated important aspects of service labor perceptions with unique values within each case interview. While alienated labor participants expressed a desire to withdraw from the industry due to a lack of vocational fulfillment, there was also a commonality of underemployment among their heavily university educated population. Hospitality adjacent and autonomist labor expressed a feeling of value that came with the multicultural connections through the tourism industry’s propensity of international exchange. Despite all cases having a similar value in cross-cultural connection, the lack of skilled labor opportunities for university educated working class does not get addressed by an increase in tourism investment, thus causing an increased alienated labor population. This research takes thorough consideration of prior scholarly work done on economic development through tourism enhancement throughout the Global South, particularly in Morocco.

Disciplines

African Languages and Societies | African Studies | Growth and Development | Labor Economics | Labor History | Tourism

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