Lynne Pettinger is Lecturer in sociology at the University of Essex. She studies musicians, customers of prostitutes, customer service work and green collar work.
July 28, 2010 In the Eyes
The opening scene of Confluence (Akram Khan and Nitin Sawney, Sadlers Wells 2010) is a story about having your passport taken away for checking. The border guards watch you, their eyes contain the power of the state. You watch your passport leave the room, you hope it reappears. Akram Khan and Nitin Sawney, the dancer…
July 9, 2010 Frying Tonight
This sign has been on the door of my local chip shop for 9 months now: I suspect it wont be reopening any time soon. Nowaytomakealiving is taking a break too, we’ll be back in August.
July 6, 2010 Sex at the Job Centre
You can find all sorts of jobs at Jobcentre Plus, the statutory agency that helps the unemployed back into work: it’s the place to look if you fancy a working as a driver, check-out assistant, nanny or adult model. Yes, that does say adult model. You could also find work as a ‘webcam performer’. “Duties…
June 27, 2010 The Emergency Budget: Fewer Jobs But More Work
In Britain, Chancellor George Osborne has just presented his first budget, announcing 25% cuts to most government departments. Last week, proposed government investment in leisure, social services and manufacturing was removed. A visitor’s centre at Stonehenge, a healthcare centre in Leeds, and financial support for the Forgemasters plant in Sheffield were some of a number…
June 18, 2010 Women Drivers
One of my favourite flickr groups is ‘Taxis of the world from inside’. I like the glimpses of the city in these shots, and the confusion between the outside spaces and the mobile indoors of the car. The car in the city represents a supermodernity (Augé, 2009), a non-place, neither public, nor private, fluid without…
June 11, 2010 Closing Down
Two signs photographed in a department store that’s about to close. To the left, big, bold letters and colours: the store is closing down and everything must go, “step right up, bargains galore”. Thrill at 20% off a new kettle. Take home a pottery owl, only £42.99 (down from £59.00). It’s an exciting chance, you consumer…
June 10, 2010 The Poet
Early in the film of Blake Morrison’s memoir And When Did You Last See Your Father (dir Anand Tucker, 2007), Blake (Colin Firth) accepts an award for his poetry (it might be that the definition of ‘real’ work is that it’s the sort of activity you’d never attend an award ceremony to mark). At the risk…
June 3, 2010 Routine and Creativity
Routinisation is usually seen as deskilling, as alienating, as the opposite of creativity (Braverman, 1998; Leidner, 1993). Austrin and West (2005) suggest that the routinisation of how casino staff manipulate cards acts as mechanism for surveillance. Standardising and controlling how staff hold their thumb and fingers limits the chances for them to cheat. Routines are supposed…
May 19, 2010 The Offices of State
In these photos taken by Martin Argles for the Guardian, we see Gordon Brown and his team preparing to leave Downing Street. These photos interest me for what they show about the spaces and experience of work. In the first photograph, there are three members of staff huddled round one phone.
May 12, 2010 Trust, Honesty and the Politician’s CV
Nowaytomakealiving is collectively intrigued by today’s appointment of Iain Duncan Smith as Work and Pensions Secretary in the bodge-job coalition which now runs Britain. Formerly leader of the Conservative party, and sometime novelist (his book, The Devil’s Tune is currently 212,689 on Amazon bestseller list), the ‘quiet man’ is a provocative choice for the concerned…