LECTURE 4: AESTHETIC LABOUR

Question 1

What is aesthetic and emotional labour?

Answer 1

It’s a form of labour that involves training and disciplining the body and delivering appropriate bodily and emotional displays or performances at work or work.

Question 2

Origin of emotional labour

1) Reference of origin

Answer 2

1) in the 1980s, researcher named Arlie Hochschild started studying the working practices of flight attendants
- -> Coined the term emotional labour to explain how these workers managed their deepest feelings and emotions while interacting with customers

Question 3

1) How does Hochschild define ‘emotional labour’ ?

2) What does she focus on?

Answer 3

1) “the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display”
2) Rather than hand gestures and facial expressions like smiling, she focuses on workers performing an act during their shift, being polite, bubbly etc

Question 4

1) Emotional labour is not just about smiling but having…

2) Example

Answer 4

1) a certain look

2) Hollister

Question 5

Aesthetic labour

1) Origin
2) Definition

Answer 5

1) Warhurst et al. (2000)

2) Embodied capacities and attributes’ possessed by workers at the point of entry into employment
- -> Employers then mobilise, develop and commodify these capacities and attributes through processes of recruitment, selection and training, transforming them into ‘competencies’ or ‘skills’ which are then aesthetically geared towards producing a ‘style’ of service encounter” which are then aesthetically geared towards producing a ‘style’ of service encounter.”

Question 6

distinct modes of customer interaction depend not just on manufacturing feelings but also ..

Answer 6

performative ‘styles of the flesh’

So as Warhusrt talks about in the reading: looking good and sounding right.

Question 7

Entwistle and Wissinger (2006)

Answer 7

argue that ‘workers’ bodies are HARNESSED to sell the organization’s image by literally embodying it

Question 8

Witz et al argue about working in shops

Answer 8

“Work in the shop is staged and scripted: shop assistants are told where to stand, at what angle to the door, how to approach customers and what to say”

Question 9

GAP case study

1) Reference
2) Findings

Answer 9

1) Leslie (2002)

2) Employees come to fear the material consequences of not conforming to regulatory regimes

Question 10

Performances take place on the shop floor which becomes…

Answer 10

a stage (where workers perform)

Question 11

Entwistle and Wissinger (2006) argue that the emphasis on the body is…

Answer 11

…arguably greater than in service work, as it is the main commodity or tool of the trade”.

Question 12

What does Dean (2005) note for TV and theatre acting?

1) Key requirement of job
2) Link between…

Answer 12

1) That attracting the audience gaze through aesthetic labour is a key requirement of the job
2) Also notes the link between physical attractiveness and the ability to spend hours building relationships with directors and casting agents

Question 13

Not only do workers need to network themselves but the act of networking

Answer 13

itself requires ‘performing’ and requires aesthetic labour

e.g. schmoozing at parties etc

Question 14

Entwistle and Wissinger (2006) quote for how freelance fashion model must create/promote own brand

Answer 14

“The pressures of aesthetic labour impact upon freelancers differently: rather than commodification by corporation and clear codes of presentation, these workers have to commodify themselves under fluctuating conditions - depending on different projects and clients, as well as the whims of ‘fashion’”

Question 15

Quote about walking away from themselves

1) Actual quote pls paloo
2) Reference

Answer 15

1) “freelance aesthetic labourer cannot walk away from the product which is their entire embodied self”
2) Entwistle and Wissinger (2006)

Question 16

Reference for aesthetic labour requiring more than an aesthetic performance at work, but a degree of body preservation to reproduce one’s body for work.

Answer 16

Entwistle and Wissinger (2006)

Question 17

Development of social media = musicians are performing aesthetic labour in…

Answer 17

… physical and increasingly virtual spaces

Question 18

How do independent musicians differentiate their music and live performances in the crowded marketplace?

Answer 18

• Quality musicianship and originality of songs is no longer sufficient to win over consumers –> but instead, bands must produce a complete package by combining their sonic style with unique visual elements.

Question 19

Hochschild’s ‘war of smiles’ and Brian’s research

Answer 19

Many of the respondents reported the importance of coming on stage with energy, smiling at the audience and that body language is crucial to the performance as a whole.

Question 20

‘Stage persona’ quote by musician

Answer 20

“I have to have a ‘stage persona. Suddenly I have to up everything I am doing, I have to be entertaining and visually stimulating in addition to just playing my instrument”

Question 21

The constructed ‘self’ is not donned and removed at the end of the working day but…

Answer 21

… is the product

Question 22

Social media quote

Answer 22

“I think social media is a great music resource for musicians because it puts everything in your hands”

Question 23

competing for attention online requires two things which involve aesthetic labour (2)

Answer 23

1) Constant updates of creative content, news, information and merchandise
2) Increasingly customized and personal engagement with consumers on the other hand.

Question 24

On the emotional front, musicians are forced to blur the lines between fan and friend and do things like: (4)

Answer 24

1) Solicit feedback about current material and ideas for future projects.
2) Maintain blogs about their music and personal lives
3) Send customized invitations for upcoming shows and thank you cards to those who came
4) And answer questions on demand with people who may buy their stuff

Question 25

1) New York Times article and top-notch imagery article

2) 15-second rule

Answer 25

1) Crucial for getting noticed online and that bands should try to present a uniform ‘look’ that fits with their music
2) After listening to about 15 seconds of the first song, most people will decide to click on the pictures so bands need shots of their performances but also personal pictures of activities that they regularly do.

Question 26

‘why’ these highly educated, skilled and mobile individuals pursue and persevere through such precarious career paths?

Answer 26

Now the broader literature suggests that firms, industries and neoliberal states use the promise of autonomy to lure new workers - to mask exploitative conditions and to reduce collective resistance by individualizing workers and pitting them against one another.

Question 27

Banks (2010) opinion of autonomy as ‘false’

Answer 27

Believes it is ‘negotiated’ as they try to balance opportunities for meaningful self-expression with the risks and constraints of their employment conditions

Question 28

Gill and Pratt’s (2008) thoughts of creative labour

Answer 28

may contain elements of exploitation and control as well as legitimate freedom, pleasure and satisfaction

Question 29

1) Definition of autonomy

2) Reference

Answer 29

1) Capacity of an individual to exercise discretion and freedom of choice over their career and life is highly seductive - and helps to explain the recent rise of creative entrepreneurship.
2) Banks (2010)

Question 30

Reference for: “visual artists forgo earnings and incur employment risks because they are compelled to express their artistic creativity and need to be free of rigid schedules and constraints imposed by formal employment”

Answer 30

Menger (1999)

Question 31

What do the creative class value above monetary compensation according to Florida (2002) ? (3)

Answer 31

• Challenging work
• Peer recognition
• Lifestyle considerations

Question 32

Another explanation of psychic rewards comes from Amabile’s research on the psychological motivations of creativity in which she explains that…

Answer 32

…individuals are understood to create based on both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives

Question 33

What do Hesmondhalgh and Baker (2011) remind us in reference to working longer hours as a bad thing?

Answer 33

unlike the alienated clock-watching that many of us dread in labour, many creative workers find pleasurable absorption in their work.

Question 34

Psychic reward quote from Brian’s work

Answer 34

“For me, it hasn’t been about the money and I don’t think it ever will be. Music does something inside me that nothing else that I have ever done in my life has ever done for me…Being in a band is not a rational economic choice, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Question 35

some suggest that even self-aware musicians treat business tasks as a .. (2),.. musicians may also consider them as another form of…(3)

4) Reference

Answer 35

1) Necessary evil
2) Price of creativity
3) Creative expression

4) Brown (2012)

Question 36

In terms of intrinsic rewards many musicians talked about the…

Answer 36

… satisfaction of creating something

Question 37

Others spoke about the extrinsic rewards of (2)

Answer 37

• Peer recognition

- Energy from the crowd when you perform on stage

Question 38

1) Quote for highlighting that psychic income is valued/experienced diff by every individual
2) Reference

Answer 38

1) “The benefits derived from non-monetary income are, however, not of a uniform magnitude”
2) Menger