Access Inequalities in the Artistic Labour Market in the UK: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Precariousness, Entrepreneurialism and Voluntarism

Abstract

This paper investigates the roles played by social enterprise and social activism in mitigating access inequalities in the artistic labour market in the UK. Our analysis focuses on underpaid internships as a primary form of access inequalities. By employing critical discourse analysis, this study contrasts the discourses of entrepreneurialism and voluntarism advocated by the government and social enterprises, with the counter-discourse of precarity advanced by social activists. The central argument is that precarity is not simply an innate characteristic of artistic labour, but is also a social construct and discourse which is directly linked to social class and the experience of less privileged creative workers. © 2017 European Academy of Management

Keywords

Author Keywords

social enterprise access inequalities precarity social activism voluntarism

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Brunel Business School, Uxbridge, Middlesex, United Kingdom

Kent Business School, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

Funding & Acknowledgements

National Research Foundation of Korea, NRF

Grant: NRF-2017S1A3A2066149

The authors would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief, Professor Mustafa F. Özbilgin, the guest editors, Dr. Joana Vassilopoulou, Dr. Olivia Kyriakidou, Dr. Andri Georgiadou, and Dr. Jose Pascal da Rocha, and the three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. Soo Hee Lee acknowledges that his work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2017S1A3A2066149).

National Research Foundation of Korea, NRF

The authors would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief, Professor Mustafa F. Özbilgin, the guest editors, Dr. Joana Vassilopoulou, Dr. Olivia Kyriakidou, Dr. Andri Georgiadou, and Dr. Jose Pascal da Rocha, and the three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. Soo Hee Lee acknowledges that his work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2017S1A3A2066149).

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Access Inequalities in the Artistic Labour Market in the UK: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Precariousness, Entrepreneurialism and Voluntarism

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