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The Boss: Conspicuous Invisibility in H o C hi M inh City
Author(s) -
HARMS ERIK
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
city and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1548-744X
pISSN - 0893-0465
DOI - 10.1111/ciso.12016
Subject(s) - boss , invisibility , urbanization , ho chi minh , sociology , valuation (finance) , economy , business , economic growth , economics , socioeconomics , accounting , engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , low income , optics
This article introduces the figure of the V ietnamese boss, ( ông chủ ), in this case, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of a H o C hi M inh City securities trading company. The boss's body techniques, lifestyle choices, and movement through different spaces in the city offer a view into the “everyday presentation of wealth” among business leaders who drive much of the economic transformation in contemporary V ietnam. In order to illuminate how the figure speaks to a particular moment in V ietnam's great urban transformation, the essay describes practices of “conspicuous invisibility” through which the boss manages what can and cannot be seen about his wealth. As a figure, the boss stands out against the background of economic privatization, the emergence of a stock market, rapid urbanization, and the changing moral valuation of those who accumulate wealth. The article also suggests that conspicuous invisibility both produces and is produced by new kinds of urban spaces. [ V ietnam, H o C hi M inh City, S aigon, New Urban Zones, elites].