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/9780300218176.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter examines the way by which the fulltime social media producers articulated their work styles: they lauded the flexibility and autonomy of their pieced-together careers while drawing ...
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This chapter examines the way by which the fulltime social media producers articulated their work styles: they lauded the flexibility and autonomy of their pieced-together careers while drawing attention to some of the less glossy features of the independent work-style. Indeed, the social media professionals detailed careers marked by a chaotic pace of work, periods of insecurity, and the demand to be ever-present to both audiences and advertisers. These individuals thus engage in aspirational labor, albeit of a different sort: they labor persistently—and at times, invisibly—to maintain their status in the midst of a “political economy of insecurity,” where neoliberal ideologies and practices shift organizational risks and responsibilities onto the individual.Less
This chapter examines the way by which the fulltime social media producers articulated their work styles: they lauded the flexibility and autonomy of their pieced-together careers while drawing attention to some of the less glossy features of the independent work-style. Indeed, the social media professionals detailed careers marked by a chaotic pace of work, periods of insecurity, and the demand to be ever-present to both audiences and advertisers. These individuals thus engage in aspirational labor, albeit of a different sort: they labor persistently—and at times, invisibly—to maintain their status in the midst of a “political economy of insecurity,” where neoliberal ideologies and practices shift organizational risks and responsibilities onto the individual.