玻璃屋裡的勞動者：咖啡師的品味勞動與階級區隔

近年來，台灣的咖啡產業急速發展，從下游咖啡廳、中游烘焙到上游種植都逐漸打開世界知名度，與此同時，咖啡廳第一線的勞動者仍然受限於低薪以及職涯斷頭的不利處境。為何在不利的職涯處境下，咖啡師仍然願意持續投入？本研究圍繞著「品味勞動」的觀點，從勞動過程以及階級區隔兩個部分回應此提問：品味勞動的去技藝化導致相對不利的勞動條件，再技藝化則持續召喚勞動者投入。我使用「品味勞動」的概念，說明咖啡師如何在勞動現場生產品味，創造台灣的咖啡廳產業成為多元品味市場，資料來自參與觀察以及咖啡師訪談，我使用再技藝化的精品咖啡廳、去技藝化的跨國連鎖店以及部分去技藝化的在地加盟店三間咖啡廳的勞動過程，指認出品味匠人、風味演員、品味女工三種不同類型的品味勞動，分析品味生產、品味技藝、操作技藝以及品味協商四個面向。第一部分說明品味勞動如何在第一線的勞動現場運作，成為新的區辨來源，轉化精品咖啡廳的工作為「好工作」。精品咖啡廳內的品味匠人接受品味訓練與沖煮訓練，橋接西方風味與在地口味、也橋接感知與沖煮，積澱完整匠藝在身體上，為消費者量身訂製咖啡產品。在互動中進行品味判斷、品味媒合、品味調整以及品味推廣，協商消費者口味以及「好咖啡」邊界。跨國連鎖店內的風味演員習得美國總部制定出來的標準化規則，細緻地規範風味標籤、原物料配方、操作流程與消費者服務。勞動者穿上門市發放的服裝，使用門市規定的話術，在門市設計好的場景中組織起寰宇風味裝配線，跨國菁英熟悉的臣服性服務角色濃縮跨國不平等與階級不平等，在誇張的服務劇碼中製造尊榮感，生產出全球一致的產品與體驗。加盟店內的品味女工利用馴服身體配合半自動設備、與其他員工高效合作，進行團隊工作，在短時間內製作出更多餐點。僅能發揮操作技藝的情況下，加盟主的利潤空間受限於加盟總部壟斷的品味技藝、定價策略以及原物料成本，他們會壓低人事成本來賺取品味代工的利潤，導致正職員工窮忙、兼職員工窮苦、加盟主血汗的勞動處境。加盟店內運作的規則來自多重權威，規則的模糊性開放勞動現場中新冒出規則、文化規則滲透進入勞動場域的可能性，卻也同時開放勞動者建立長時段例行來與多重規訓討價還價的空間。由於品味女工難以利用品味協商轉移服務工作中的低自尊，消費者又被形塑為貪小便宜、缺乏品味的普羅大眾，品味女工多以私人情誼拉攏熟客來與同產業內的不同咖啡廳競爭，也與同品牌內的不同加盟店或直營店競爭。第二部分從階級區隔出發，先說明經濟資本與文化資本的差異如何篩選勞動者進入不同類型的咖啡廳組織，再指出階級背景的差異如何導致咖啡師在咖啡廳勞動市場內的職涯不平等。去技藝化的跨國連鎖店以相對較好的勞動條件吸引中低階級子弟，部分去技藝化的加盟店內有操作技藝吸引門市周圍的在地勞工。中產階級子弟更容易養成品味匠人，他們能忍受不穩定排班，類似文化精英的雜食品味成為可在勞動場域運作的文化資本。中低階級子弟更容易進入連鎖店工作，他們嚮往跨國連鎖店創造出的白領階級工作氛圍，門市也受惠於大學生展演出的白領階級形象，以及經濟吃緊下的「吃苦耐勞」。在地加盟店多雇用在底層服務業流動、住在門市附近的中低階級子弟，員工學歷相對不佳，勞動條件也相對不佳。結果，階級不平等不僅作用於經濟區辨，也作用於品味區辨，賦予中產階級子弟更好的職涯流動機會，再回過頭來改造職場倫理，打破穩定雇傭契約以及勞動訓練，零工經濟或斜槓青年的論述掩蓋了品味經濟仍受限於階級不平等的現實。

關鍵字

品味勞動；去技藝化；咖啡師；職涯流動；階級

並列摘要

Recently, the coffee industry has flourished in Taiwan, where downstream coffee shops, middle-stream coffee roasting, and upstream coffee planting have become more visible worldwide. However, front-line workers in coffee shops are still confined to limited wages and severed careers. Why do these workers continuously enter the industry under these disadvantages? This research answers the question from the perspective of "taste labor" through the views of the labor process and career trajectories: deskilling of taste labor devalues workers' treatment, and workers find it difficult to advance their careers. The term "taste labor" is used to describe how baristas produce taste and profit on the front line. Taiwanese coffee industries have reformed to a diverse taste market due to the growth in popularity of specialty coffee. Data were collected from participant observations and interviews. I observed the labor process of reskilling in specialty coffee shops, deskilling in international chain stores, and partial-deskilling in local franchises. I then classified their taste labor as taste-craftsperson, flavor-actors, and taste-female-workers. The following four perspectives were used to describe taste labor: taste production, taste skill, technical skill, and taste negotiation. The first part of this dissertation describes how taste labor works in a service encounter. I then argue that the taste skill has become a new line of distinction, transforming the job in specialty coffee shops to a "good job." Taste-craftspeople receive taste and brewing training in such shops, bridging western flavors and local taste, bridging sensation and brewing, accumulating the skill and knowledge relating to their “craft,” and tailoring coffee products to fit customers' preferences. They process taste judgments, matching, adjustment, and promotion. They negotiate customers' tastes with "good coffee." Flavor-actors learn standardized rules in an international chain store. Standardized rules regulate flavor labels, raw material formulas, operational processes, and customer service. Workers wear uniforms, learn standard descriptions, and construct cosmopolitan flavor production lines to produce consistent products and experiences. Transnational elites are familiar with subordinate service roles (SSRs), which condense global and class inequality, making customers feel entitled. Flavor-actors produce products and experiences globally consistently. Female-taste-workers in local franchisees engage in teamwork. They cooperate efficiently with a semi-automatic machine and other workers, making products as quickly as possible. When the franchiser monopolizes taste skills, pricing strategies, and material costs, franchisees lower their labor costs to profit from manufacturing products defined by the franchiser. This causes full-time workers to be busy and underpaid, part-time workers to be working poor, and franchisees to exploit themselves. Multiple rules work in a franchise are established by various authorities, such as the franchiser rules or the franchisee rules. This makes the rules ambiguous in the store and allows new regulations to be brought in on an ad-hoc basis. Cultural practices can also work in the labor process. Workers prefer to build a longer routine to ascribe a sense of control when negotiating with multiple disciplines. It is difficult for female-workers to transfer the lower-esteem job to taste negotiation, and their customers are deemed as a general population that is greedy with small advantages and lack of taste. Therefore, female workers often build friendships with their customers to develop regular customers to compete with other coffee shops in the industry and franchisees under the same brand. In the second part of the dissertation, I examine class-job segmentation; economic and cultural capital channel workers to different kinds of coffee shops. Workers’ backgrounds cause different career trajectories. The deskilling international chain store, with relatively better salaries, attracts workers with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. the partial-deskilling franchisee uses technical skills and friendships to attract nearby local workers. Middle-class children prefer to become taste-craftspeople because they have the economic security to endure instability. Their omnivore taste, a form of cultural elite, becomes cultural capital that can operate in their fields of work. Chain stores are becoming increasingly popular with lower class children. They have a strong desire to experience the white-collared and aspirational atmosphere of an international chain. The chain store benefits from the “middle-classness” of university students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and their willingness to remain in employment due to lack of economic alternatives. Local franchisees often hire local workers who in front-line service jobs. Their level of education and remuneration are relatively lower than workers in the specialty coffee shops and international chain stores. Therefore, class inequality not only functions in economic reproduction but also in taste reproduction; class background gives middle-class children better career trajectories, and remaking new ethics of the gig economy or so-called slash youth challenges stable contracts and training, which conceals the truth that the class inequality in the labor market is still confined to the taste economy.