Abstract
This article aims to reflect on the concept of domestic service from a historical perspective, having as reference the history of labor carried out in urban households by female and male slaves and free workers, especially in the capital of Brazil, between approximately 1850 and 1950. For this purpose, the text discusses, based on various documentary sources and studies on the subject, notions that are usually associated with the definitions of domestic labor, in terms of providing services, such as those that comprise the nature of work activities, the spaces in which they were carried out and the type of workers involved. The hypothesis defended is the historical existence of a great complexity in the work relationship established in the context of domesticity, especially regarding the integration of class, gender, and race determinants, as well as the characteristics of the organization of social reproduction in contexts such as the transition from slave/servile labor to free/paid labor in the constitution of capitalism in Brazil.
Keywords:
Domestic Service; Brazil; Rio de Janeiro; 1850-1950