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Beyond the vocational fragments: Creative work, precarious labour and the idea of ‘Flexploitation’

Author

Listed:
  • George Morgan

    (University of Western Sydney, Australia)

  • Julian Wood

    (University of Sydney, Australia)

  • Pariece Nelligan

    (University of Western Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

The subjective experience of employment insecurity may be more contradictory than discourses of ‘fragmentation’ and ‘flexploitation’ suggest. For young people seeking careers in creative occupations, the expectation of insecure employment conditions has become normalised. This may be the combined effect of intergenerational changes in the youth labour market generally, and the nature of employment in creative industries at all career stages. The article draws from 80 life history interviews conducted in Western Sydney, Australia, a region with high concentrations of unemployment and low socio-economic status. Their perspectives problematise the common assumption that young creative workers seek to resist insecure patterns of work or long for the stable jobs of the past. Partly, they have accepted the injunction for ‘vocational restlessness’ in their industries. Both in their ‘day jobs’ and in their attempts to get into their chosen part of the creative industry, they feel that not staying in one position too long can be both liberating and adaptive. Union campaigns highlighting the perils of insecurity are unlikely to resonate with them.

Suggested Citation

  • George Morgan & Julian Wood & Pariece Nelligan, 2013. "Beyond the vocational fragments: Creative work, precarious labour and the idea of ‘Flexploitation’," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 24(3), pages 397-415, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:24:y:2013:i:3:p:397-415
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304613500601
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John Burgess & Iain Campbell & Robyn May, 2008. "Pathways from Casual Employment to Economic Security: the Australian Experience," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 161-178, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Duncan McKay, 2014. "The labour of visual art in Western Australia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 99-114, March.
    2. Iain Campbell & Robin Price, 2016. "Precarious work and precarious workers: Towards an improved conceptualisation," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(3), pages 314-332, September.
    3. Karol MUSZYŃSKI & Valeria PULIGNANO & Markieta DOMECKA & Adam MROZOWICKI, 2022. "Coping with precarity during COVID‐19: A study of platform work in Poland," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 161(3), pages 463-485, September.
    4. Wilzcynska, Aleksandra & Batorski, Dominik & Torrent Sellens, Joan, 2014. "Employment flexibility, job security and job satisfaction of knowledge workers in Poland," EconStor Preprints 162056, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    5. Victor Wong & Tat Chor Au-Yeung, 2019. "Autonomous precarity or precarious autonomy? Dilemmas of young workers in Hong Kong," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(2), pages 241-261, June.
    6. Sabogal Camargo, A.M., 2021. "Passion, precarity and inequality? Working conditions of urban dancers in Colombia," ISS Working Papers - General Series 135150, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    7. Aleksandra Wilczyńska & Dominik Batorski & Joan Sellens, 2016. "Employment Flexibility and Job Security as Determinants of Job Satisfaction: The Case of Polish Knowledge Workers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 633-656, March.
    8. Kate MacNeill & Jenny Lye & Grace McQuilten & Marnie Badham & Chloë Powell, 2022. "The Incomes of Visual Artists: Which Artists, What Income?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 55(4), pages 558-567, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; job insecurity; precarious work; sociology of work; vulnerable workers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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