Individualization, Gender and Cultural Work

Banks, Mark; Milestone, Katie

doi:10.1111/j.1468-0432.2010.00535.x

Cited by 122 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The unsocial working hours and geographical flexibility required in the creative industries add further constraints for workers with childcare responsibilities, and such workers are predominantly female. Women find it particularly difficult to reconcile the long, unsocial working hours and working away from home with care commitments (Banks and Milestone, 2011;Gill, 2002;Skillset, 2009 Many female interviewees in this study stated that having a successful career required them to put their personal lives on hold (similarly Banks and Milestone, 2011). Not every woman is able or willing to make this sacrifice: as we note below,there is notable attrition amongst early to midthirties aged women working in the creative media industries.…”

Section: Inequality and Discrimination In The Creative Industriesmentioning

confidence: 95%

The promised land? Why social inequalities are systemic in the creative industries

2013

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Structured Abstract Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to develop a more comprehensive understanding of why social inequalities and discrimination remain in the creative industries.  Design/methodology/approach -The paper synthesizes existing academic and industry research and data, with a particular focus on the creative media industries.  Findings -The paper reveals that existing understanding of the lack of diversity in the creative industries' workforce is conceptually limited. Better understanding is enabled through an approach centred on the creative industries' model of production. This approach explains why disadvantage and discrimination are systemic, not transitory.  Practical implications -The findings suggest that current policy assumptions about the creative industries are misguided and need to be reconsidered. The findings also indicate how future research of the creative industries ought to be framed.  Social implications -If policy continues to promote the creative industries drawing on existing assumptions, disadvantage, discrimination and inequalities of opportunity will persist in the economic development and employment.  Originality/value -The paper provides a novel synthesis of existing research and data to explain how the creative industries' model of production translates into particular features of work and employment, which then translate into social inequalities that entrench discrimination based on sex, race and class. KeywordsAudio-visual industries, creative media industries, creative industries, equal opportunities, new world of work, social inequality.2 IntroductionThe creative industries have become a key feature of government economic policy across the world, expected to drive GDP and job growth and accelerate urban regeneration (e.g. Clifton et al., 2009; European Commission, 2012;Ross, 2009; UNCTAD, 2008). Of particular appeal to policy-makers is the promise that the creative industries will deliver this socio-economic development offering employment opportunities for all regardless of sex, race or class and so free of the old social inequalities in work and employment (Florida, 2004).The aim of this article is to expose key conceptual shortcomings in this promise. We argue that in focusing on creative talent other important characteristics of the creative industries are overlooked.These omissions matter, we argue, because they disable a comprehensive account of the creative industries' model of production and this model, we further argue, contains systemic social inequalities. Based on a novel synthesis of existing research we explain how the creative industries' model of production translates into particular features of work and employment, which then translate into social inequalities that entrench discrimination based on sex, race and class.The article uses the latest available data from the UK's creative media industries 1 to illustrate our arguments. This selection is deliberate. The UK has been a policy leader in promoting the creative industries, including th...

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Section: Inequality and Discrimination In The Creative Industriesmentioning

confidence: 95%

The promised land? Why social inequalities are systemic in the creative industries

2013

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“…A considerable body of work into the cultural industries remains silent on issues of gender and, indeed, other forms of social division such as ethnicity, race, age and disability (Oakley, 2006). Banks and Milestone (2011) draw attention to this through their analysis of some of the enduring features of gender inequality and discrimination in the digital new media area. In the policy responses of those concerned with the regeneration of Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, issues of gender are framed within a strong economic preponderance to favour large scale manufacturing industry.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, craft labour and the creative sector

Hughes

2012

International Journal of Cultural Policy

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This paper responds to a resurgence of interest in craft labour as an integral aspect of policy generation in the creative sector. It highlights the local, and industrial, cultural, and political histories and processes that create divisions and distinctions within craft economies. Drawing on research with designer makers in Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, the paper demonstrates how gender infuses the responses of policy actors in their regeneration plans for the local economy. It notes the significance of local meanings of craft and how this leads to misrecognition and devaluation. It also illustrates how the economic importance of designer makers is diminished within a policy environment that has had a long standing focus on large scale manufacturing. This leaves designer makers occupying a role that is predominantly focused on their symbolic and decorative value. This bodes ill for cultural policy reformulation that is based on the economic significance of flexible specialisation within small scale, networked businesses. IntroductionThis paper builds on, and responds to, Banks' (2010) concerns to signal the importance of craft labour to the cultural industries. He notes how, in its weight of attention on knowledge workers and creatives, craft labour has been a neglected facet to understanding this sector. However, as Banks notes, a focus on craft workers will illuminate alternative political positions as craft workers are, generally, subordinated to artistic labour. They are also currently threatened by recent transformations of flexible capitalism.

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“…In advanced economies the social attributes of 'working bodies' are increasingly important features of labour market relations (McDowell 2009, Nixon 2009, Banks and Milestone 2011. Workers are no longer merely tasked with carrying out physical or manual labour, but juggle demands around appearance, dress and emotional outlook.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crafting masculinities: gender, culture and emotion at work in the surfboard industry

Warren

2015

Gender, Place & Culture

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. (2016). Crafting masculinities: gender, culture and emotion at work in the surfboard industry. Gender, Place and Culture: a journal of feminist geography, 23 (1), 36-54.Crafting masculinities: gender, culture and emotion at work in the surfboard industry AbstractThis article examines the masculinities of male workers in the context of an emotionally rich form of labour: surfboard-making. Contributing to emerging research around the emotional and embodied dimensions of men's working lives, the article maps the cultural, emotional and embodied dimensions of work onto masculine identity construction. Combining cultural economy theory, emotional geographies and in-depth ethnographic methods, I reveal how surfboard-making has become a gendered form of work; how jobs rely on (and impact) the body and what surfboard-making means to workers outside of financial returns. Following a manual labour process, and informed by Western surfing subculture, commercial surfboard-making has layered onto male bodies. Men perform 'blokey' masculinities in relation with one another. However, doing manual craftwork evokes close, personal interaction; among co-workers but also through engagements with place and local customers. Felt, embodied craft skills help workers personalise boards for individual customers and local breaks. Beneath masculine work cultures and pretensions, surfboard-making is a deeply emotional and embodied work. Labour is dependent on haptic knowledge: sense of touch, bodily movement and eye for detail. Contrasting their blokey masculinity, surfboard-makers rely on intimate links between their bodies, tools, materials, customers and surfing places. These 'strong bodied' men articulate a 'passion' and 'love' for 'soulful' jobs, demonstrating how waged work comprises alternative masculinities, shaped by working culture, relations and labour processes. A cultural economy framework and emotionally engaged research approach are valuable for challenging hegemonic masculinity, important for achieving more inclusive, tolerant and equitable workplaces. Beneath masculine work cultures and pretensions, surfboard-making is deeply emotional and embodied work. Labour is dependent on haptic knowledges: sense of touch, bodily movement and eye for detail. Contrasting their blokey masculinity surfboard makers rely on intimate links between their bodies, tools, materials, customers and surfing places. These 'strong bodied' men articulate a 'passion' and 'love' for 'soulful' jobs, demonstrating how waged work comprises alternative masculinities, shaped by working culture, relations and labour processes. A cultural economy framework and emotionally engaged research approach is valuable for challenging hegemonic masculinity, important for achieving more inclusive, tolerant and equitable workplaces.2

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Individualization, Gender and Cultural Work

Cited by 122 publications

References 16 publications

The promised land? Why social inequalities are systemic in the creative industries

The promised land? Why social inequalities are systemic in the creative industries

Gender, craft labour and the creative sector

Crafting masculinities: gender, culture and emotion at work in the surfboard industry

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