The Automated Heart: Digital Domesticity and Emotional Labour Saving

Abstract

This article considers the relevance of domestic labour saving devices to emotional labour. Starting with an account of the ways in which household technologies failed to relieve the burdens of domestic drudgery in the twentieth century, it proceeds to consider the labour saving potential of the ‘smart home’, as well as the gendered ideologies it represents. By looking at social robots designed for use in the smart home, we see that, while manual housework is beyond the scope of today’s smart technologies, emotional labour is not. Thinking about the different forms that domestic automation can take allows us to recognise that there are qualitative as well as quantitative factors to consider when it comes to critically assessing domestic labour saving ambitions. The article concludes by exploring continuities with paid care work, and by developing a tri-partite approach to reproductive labour as high touch, high tech, and high talk.