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‘Money Probably Has Something to Do with My Life’: Discourse and Materiality in the Working Lives of Start-Up Entrepreneurs

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  • Karel Musílek

    (Cardiff University, UK)

  • Kimberly Jamie

    (Durham University, UK)

  • Mark Learmonth

    (Nottingham Trent University, UK)

Abstract

This article contributes to an understanding of work-intensive entrepreneurial lives as part of analysing the intensification of work in society. It offers an empirical extension of Foucauldian analyses, which attribute commitment to work to the influence of neoliberal enterprise discourse while often neglecting the material conditions of entrepreneurial work. The article draws on moderate constructionism and materialist discourse analysis to offer an account that pays attention to discourse and material realities. This ethnographic study shows how participants evoked norms of enterprise discourse to explain their commitment to work. However, they also understood these norms to be fundamentally shaped by their material conditions. The major contribution of the article is to show that the interpenetration of discursive norms with the investment logic of enterprise tends to displace boundaries between work and personal life and shift temporal arrangements of work from work–life ‘balance’ to prospects of free time in the imagined future.

Suggested Citation

  • Karel Musílek & Kimberly Jamie & Mark Learmonth, 2024. "‘Money Probably Has Something to Do with My Life’: Discourse and Materiality in the Working Lives of Start-Up Entrepreneurs," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1285-1306, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:38:y:2024:i:5:p:1285-1306
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170231185033
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Winborg, Joakim & Landstrom, Hans, 2001. "Financial bootstrapping in small businesses: Examining small business managers' resource acquisition behaviors," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 235-254, May.
    2. Stevphen Shukaitis & Joanna Figiel, 2020. "Knows no weekend: the psychological contract of cultural work in precarious times," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 290-302, May.
    3. Karel Musílek & Kimberly Jamie & Linda McKie, 2020. "Cold Winds and Warm Attachments: Interrogating the Personal Attachment to Neoliberal Work and Economy," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 514-525, June.
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