Between Juggling, Stunts, and Antics: The Meaning of Work for Circus Artists

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the meanings of the work of circus artists in three dimensions, individual, organizational, and social, following the adaptation to the model of Morin (2001) proposed by Oliveira, Piccinini, Fontoura, and Schweig (2004) and Morin, Tonelli, and Pliopas (2007). Originality/value: The article stands out because it deals with a category of artists that is losing space within society, being increasingly marginalized. Given this, it becomes relevant to understand the meaning of an activity that is in decline. Design/methodology/approach: This is a descriptive and exploratory study of a qualitative nature, in which primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten circus artists. For data collection, the content analysis technique was used in Atlas.ti software. Findings: The results point out that there is meaning in work for the circus artists across all dimensions: 1. In the individual dimension, the pleasure was the predominant factor, since in more than one moment, all the interviewees expressed their satisfaction in belonging to the circus; 2. In the organizational dimension, utility prevailed, since everyone considered contributing and meeting the needs of the circus; 3. In the social dimension, interpersonal relations, demonstrating that even with evidence of prejudice, external relationships can be formed in the circus. The results contribute to the literature that involves studies with circus artists, considering their meanings of work.

Meaning of work in a group of school principals: the role of organizational variables

“…First of all, our finding about the role of job satisfaction confirms the effect of individual dimensions of work experience in influencing the meaning of work (Medeiros et al , 2018; Janicke-Bowles et al , 2019; Steger et al , 2019). The saliency of job satisfaction is spread across several work contexts, namely, from medical professions (Lu et al , 2019) to the banking sector (Belias and Koustelios, 2014), from police officers (Julseth et al , 2011) to volunteers (Benevene et al , 2018).…”

“…Recent research suggests that studies on the overlapping between hedonic and eudaimonic variables remain valid for job well-being, for example, when considering satisfaction and professional growth as equally contributing to it (Robertson and Cooper, 2011; Ochoa and Blanch, 2019). Consistently, some studies have shown that hedonic dimensions, such as positive emotions at work and job satisfaction, predicts eudaimonic well-being at work or overlaps with it (Medeiros et al , 2018; Janicke-Bowles et al , 2019; Steger et al , 2019). At the same time, some authors showed that eudaimonic dimensions of well-being are related to one another.…”

Producción académica cualitativa sobre el sentido del trabajo 2010-2023 en Latinoamérica

“…De esta manera, estos estudios pueden contribuir a una gestión más efectiva y satisfactoria del personal en las organizaciones, lo que a su vez puede tener un impacto positivo en los resultados empresariales. Es importante resaltar el uso en varias publicaciones cualitativas del modelo para el sentido del trabajo desarrollado por la investigadora brasileña Morin (Gripp et al, 2022;Prado et al, 2021;Medeiros et al, 2018;Petri y Vaz, 2018). Esto es un aliciente académico que fomenta el empleo de visiones teóricas locales para el desarrollo de la investigación y la producción de conocimiento del constructo, relacionándolo con el impacto hacia la gestión del capital humano en las organizaciones y en la toma de decisiones informadas para políticas públicas relacionadas con el mundo del trabajo en la región.…”

Gigging it in the shire: information practices of Renaissance faire performers and artisans

“…Unfortunately, the IBs of performers in circus and stunt roles are also unstudied phenomena. The limited scholarly research on these areas focused on the nature of work (Medeiros et al, 2018) and the embodied and gendered experiences of stunt performers in television and film (Banks and Steimer, 2015;Smith, 2004). Greenblatt (2021) explored the embodied nature of circus aerial performance and its overlap with BDSM.…”