Call for papers for a session on "The social history of tipping (18th-20th centuries)"
European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC), Vienna (Austria) 23-26 April 2014
Millions of workers derive a significant part or even most of their income from tips. While tipping is most often associated with restaurants and hotels, other occupations such as concierges, door men, taxi drivers, parking and washroom attendants, tour guides, beauticians, etc. also depend on tips.
In their studies on tipping, sociologists, social psychologists and economists have mostly focused on the consumer's perspective: why do people give a tip and how can differences in tipping behaviour be explained?
The history of tipping is a neglected subject. Time and again the "origin" of tipping is situated in Tudor England where at the end of their visit, guests were expected to give a sum of money to their host's servants, after which the custom allegedly spread to the rest of the world.
The ESSHC-session on "The social history of tipping" I propose, will focus on tips as an important ingredient of the worker/employer/customer triangle since the 18th century. The following subjects can be addressed:
*nowadays workers deriving most of their income from tips are often associated with precarious, casual labour: has this always been the case?
*how did the existence of tips influence the employer/worker relationship?
*how did workers, largely depending on tips, (and their unions) perceive tipping? were they in favour of anti-tipping laws and/or the establishment of minimum wages?
*was the tip considered to be the property of the individual worker, of the worker and his colleagues, or of the employer?
Send a short cv and an abstract of the paper you would like to propose to pvdeeckh [at] vub.ac.be before 1 APRIL 2013.
Patricia Van den Eeckhout
Vrije Universiteit Brussel