Brooke Erin Duffy
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300218176
- eISBN:
- 9780300227666
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300218176.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter reveals the extent to which social media producers must reconcile the tensions between labor and leisure, between the internal self and external publics, between authenticity and ...
More
This chapter reveals the extent to which social media producers must reconcile the tensions between labor and leisure, between the internal self and external publics, between authenticity and self-promotion, and between creativity and commerce. It is these same patterned contradictions that configure the system of aspirational labor that has been discussed throughout this book. Thus, while blogging/vlogging/Instagramming is framed in the popular imagination as individualized self-expression, social media producers instead tend to approach these activities with the commitment and purpose of full-time, paid employment. In addition to scheduling and producing textual material, staging photos, and promoting content across the vast social media landscape, these aspirational laborers worked vigilantly to build and maintain “relationships” in both online and offline contexts.Less
This chapter reveals the extent to which social media producers must reconcile the tensions between labor and leisure, between the internal self and external publics, between authenticity and self-promotion, and between creativity and commerce. It is these same patterned contradictions that configure the system of aspirational labor that has been discussed throughout this book. Thus, while blogging/vlogging/Instagramming is framed in the popular imagination as individualized self-expression, social media producers instead tend to approach these activities with the commitment and purpose of full-time, paid employment. In addition to scheduling and producing textual material, staging photos, and promoting content across the vast social media landscape, these aspirational laborers worked vigilantly to build and maintain “relationships” in both online and offline contexts.
Brooke Erin Duffy
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300218176
- eISBN:
- 9780300227666
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300218176.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter describes the phenomenon of “aspirational labor”—a mode of (mostly) uncompensated, independent work that is propelled by the much-venerated ideal of getting paid to do what you love. As ...
More
This chapter describes the phenomenon of “aspirational labor”—a mode of (mostly) uncompensated, independent work that is propelled by the much-venerated ideal of getting paid to do what you love. As both a practice and a worker ideology, aspirational labor shifts content creators' focus from the present to the future, dangling the prospect of a career where labor and leisure coexist. Indeed, aspirational laborers expect that they will one day be compensated for their productivity—be it through material rewards or social capital. But in the meantime, they remain suspended in the consumption and promotion of branded commodities. Discourses of “paying off” in such instances are central to the motivations of aspirational laborers; they expect that their investments of time, energy, and capital will yield a fulfilling, and perhaps lucrative, career.Less
This chapter describes the phenomenon of “aspirational labor”—a mode of (mostly) uncompensated, independent work that is propelled by the much-venerated ideal of getting paid to do what you love. As both a practice and a worker ideology, aspirational labor shifts content creators' focus from the present to the future, dangling the prospect of a career where labor and leisure coexist. Indeed, aspirational laborers expect that they will one day be compensated for their productivity—be it through material rewards or social capital. But in the meantime, they remain suspended in the consumption and promotion of branded commodities. Discourses of “paying off” in such instances are central to the motivations of aspirational laborers; they expect that their investments of time, energy, and capital will yield a fulfilling, and perhaps lucrative, career.
