3. http://ageatwork.wordpress.com
Age at Work project
E-research project to map the language of age
at work using English language Web 2.0 media
Inclusive approach:
„older‟ and „younger‟
Employment and unemployment
Initial 12 month project funded by the Richard
Benjamin Trust; ongoing research partially
supported by BEI school grant
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What’s interesting?
Age is an important concept and category within
employment, retirement and education/training
policies
„Young‟ and „old‟ are constructed as mutually
exclusive in the labour market but there are
similarities in the means (e.g. regulatory) and
measures (e.g. chronological age) of exclusion
The failure of the diversity approach to deliver
equality has led to a call to re-think dimensions of
difference such as age from a critical perspective
(Zanoni et al., 2010)
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Discursive approach
Discourses are made up of language use
through
talk and text
other semiotic activity e.g. visual images
Discourse = standardised ways of referring
to / constituting a certain kind of
phenomena
Discourse analysis = method of identifying
discourses and the processes of their
construction
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What this means for age
Challenge assumptions about „age‟; even the most
„natural‟ of objects can be shown to be a social
product
Age and concepts like „younger‟ and „older‟ are
historically and culturally relative, dependent on social,
economic and political arrangements
Knowledge of age is sustained by social processes i.e.
the everyday interactions between people as they
engage in meaning-making activities
Knowledge of age we create is bound up with the
actions we take since it invites particular ways of
behaving and being
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What is e-research?
Digitally mediated interactions with research
participants at varying degrees of distance
Complex relationships between collection and
dissemination due to overlapping „digital
footprints‟
Blurred boundaries between notions of
„primary‟ and „secondary‟ data though
variants are broadly defined by different data
types
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Relevance?
E-research offers the potential to:
unpack and explore what we might previously have
labelled „context‟ or ignored
look at interactions between organizations and/or the
ways in which organizations engage with others via
the internet
examine the ways in which individuals (including
employees, customers etc.) engage with different
organizations
“media spectacle” (Tan, 2011): follow stories as they
„unfold‟ across various different media
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Practicalities
150 days of alerts („sweeps‟ of Web 2.0 data) from
English language sources
Around 6 relevant items from google/nexis per day giving
approximately 900 sources which include text, images,
video items.
Around 50 relevant tweets from twilert per day giving
approximately 7750 tweets
Additional data via following, signing up to newsletters,
following links etc. from the alerts
Text and images cut and paste into NVivo
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Aesthetic labour
Builds on concept of emotional labour
Importance of being “„good looking‟ or simply
having the „right look‟” Warhurst & Nickson (2009,
p. 386) within “an image-driven economy”
(Hancock and Tyler, 2007)
Witz et al (2003). “The kinds of embodied
dispositions that acquire an exchange value are
not equally distributed socially but fractured by
class, gender, age and racialised positions or
locations” (p41)
Commodification and utilisation by organizations
and institutions
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Stock images
“cultural text[s]“ (Milestone and Meyer, 2012)
Library pictures sold via commercial agencies for
use in print and digital media
Both production and consumption relevant
within a conceptual framework of aesthetic
labour:
Aesthetic labour of the models in producing the
images
Aesthetic representation of different images of
(un)employment is consumed
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Analysing Visual Images
Davison(2010): Analysis of portraits
Physical attributes, dress, physical artefacts, and
interpersonal representations
Rose (2012):
subject positions, absences, contradictions,
similarities/differences with other images,
persuasiveness, complexities
Sample: Identified images within the data set to
produce a sample of 120, further iterations distilled
15 images for detailed analysis, of which 4 are
discussed here
Purchased rights to these photographs
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Photo elicitation
“the meaning of images is not fixed, but dynamic
and open to continual interpretation as part of an
ongoing circuit of communication” (Bell and
Davison, 2012)
Photo-elicitation originated in the 1950s, basis in
psychology and anthropology
May be used in group or individual contexts, the
photo becomes a „presence‟ within the research
setting
Danger of assuming this offers more „rounded‟ or
complete interaction, rather offers a different type
of prompt from the more traditional verbal
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What are your impressions of these photos?
We would like to retain, display and share the comments you produce
today on these photos for use in our research project including future
academic conferences, seminars and publications.
You have a choice as to whether to share the comments you produce:
If you do not consent to your comments being reproduced (in
electronic or print form) for educational and/or non commercial
purposes then please do not hand in your picture at the end of this
session.
If you hand in your comments at the end of the session you are
consenting to these being reproduced (in electronic or print form) for
educational and/or non commercial purposes.
You may withdraw your consent subsequently by emailing the authors
and quoting your participant number.
The names of those who provide comments will not be recorded or
identified.
Any questions? If you later have any questions or concerns about the
use of these comments please email Katrina at any time
(k.pritchard@bbk.ac.uk).
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Weary Women: an emerging debate
The Wearies („Working, Entrepreneurial and Active
Retirees‟)
pensioners who find it hard to get paid employment because of
their age but who cannot afford to retire (Future Foundation,
2011).
This will make them „innovative and entrepreneurial contributors
to the UK economy‟ (Daily Mail, 2012) whether through part-time
work, running small businesses from home, trading online or
renting out spare rooms as a way of supplementing their pensions
Part of wider discourses of productivity, active ageing and
responsibilitization (Rudman & Molke, 09; Asquith, 09)
Gendered nature of „traditional‟ retirement
Use of women to illustrate „pensioners‟ generally >
implications
Weary = worry > implications
Aesthetic Labour:Broader interest in ‘the aesthetics’ of work plus building on the notion of ‘emotional labour’ to capture idea that employers sought to gain organizational benefit from the deployment of particular bodies: “workers with corporeal capacities and attributes that favourably appeal to the senses of the customers and which are then organizationally mobilized, developed and commodified through training, management and regulation to produce an embodied style of service.” P388 Warhurst and Nickson 2009).Beyond ‘impression management’Research interest in both ‘labour’ and ‘labouring’ (by individual employees or particular groups (studies of models for example). Majority of research within the service industry – hotels and catering – benefits to the organization from managing the staff/customer interaction to the smallest detail. But also research on Models (this is interesting from our perspective because many of the images we will go on to discuss are posed by models – so we are trying to disentangle different layers of aesthetics labour here.As with other discussions of diversity – age is overlooked:Particular focus on gender given the predominance of female employment in the service work sector and previous discussions re gendering of “soft skills” associated with these roles Wissinger (2012) looks at the management of ‘race’ within modelling and the impact of attempts to ‘erase’ ethnicity within the modelling industry.Witz et al ”gendered and sexualised dimensions” to aesthetic labour2009 GWO special issue on aesthetic labour – looked at issues of masculinityHall, R., & van den Broek, D. (2012) – argue that Aesthetic Labour is segmented, such that organizations may adopt different approaches based on their understandings of what is ‘needed’ for the local market – its is a means of branding. THUS very different from our approach as we are looking at web based data which tends to try to ‘speak’ to generic understandings to maximise the chance of getting the attention of an audience (NEED A REF from something on comms studies to support this?)
Has visual research been used elsewhere in the study of aesthetic labour? It appears that studies to date have largely been survey/interview or a combination within a case studySomething on the ‘layers’ of analysis here:Analysis of the visual image in term of representations of work- Aesthetic labour of the models and the selling of ‘stock’ images – images taken by professional photographers, models release their rights, photos are ‘sold’ via agencies who act as brokers with the media (taking fee of around 40%)Think we need to ensure we are not seem as trivialising conceptual underpinnings of aesthetic labourBroader aesthetics of the internet more broadly?http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p27_work_of_others“Fairdealing” : research and instructionCan show but not distribute copies
Textual context Article headline: Age discrimination 'rooted' in society, Government finds. Old age officially begins when people reach the age of 54 and youth ends when people turn 32, a Government survey has found.Photo caption (visible): According to the DWP’s research, one in three people have experienced some form of prejudice in the last year because of their age.Photo tag (usually embedded): teamRhetorical codes Physical (physical attributes incl. what is shown, attractiveness, stature, bodily condition): 4 figures are shown around a table in an office setting; all are attractive, neatly dressed and groomed. The women have long glossy hair. The men are clean shaven. The younger workers are slim; the older man a little sturdier in build.Dress (clothing, accessories, hairstyles): All 4 are informally and similarly attired in shirts but whereas the younger workers are wearing coloured shirts, the older man’s is white (implying a more conventional dress code). Otherwise their similarity and style of dress suggests a lack of hierarchy and/or a ‘creative’ work setting rather than conventional ‘suited and booted’ workplace. The younger workers all have dark hair, the older man has grey hair.Spatial (physical artefacts, space, props, furniture, hierarchy, devices that reflect eg mirrors and PC screens, symbols, location settings, associations): A very light and airy modern office setting, lots of glass, white walls and light furniture. It is a contemporary office with a potted plant to match. There are the usual office props (folders and files) but in the background. In the foreground is a large table with a plan and a folder on it. All 4 figures are touching the plan (to different extents) but suggesting some joint enterprise. The figures make a pyramid shape with the highest point of the pyramid and the right hand slop represented by the older male figure; the left hand slope is represented by the heads of the 3 younger workers. The older male figure is in a dominant position through the physical space that he occupies. Interpersonal (body language, movement, pose, expressions, gaze, eye contact, gesture, inter-relationship with others): The older man’s physical dominance is reinforced by his forward posture, his sturdier physique, the placement of both his hands on the table and his head on gaze/stare at the young woman who is seated (at whom the others are also looking). No one is looking at the plan. The three younger workers are smiling; the older man has a more serious expression (implying more responsibility / seniority). The seated woman is therefore the visual focus of the attention of the other figures (also suggesting importance). The 4 are physically quite close to each other, implying closeness of relationship/enterprise?Other What subject positions are created? Younger worker; older worker. The female worker; the male worker/boss. What is absent (that you might expect to see)? No older woman. What is different from other depictions of same ‘object / subject’? Although it is illustrating an article about age stereotypes and discrimination, it shows a multi-age team working in apparent harmony.What is the same as in other depictions of same ‘object / subject’? The older worker is represented by an older man.How does the image work to persuade (ie how does it produce its truth claims, scientific certainty or the natural way of things etc)? It reifies the idea of age and gender differences and the notion that different ages and genders represent (aspects of) diversity within a team. It (possibly) reinforces the idea that older age and seniority are aligned. Does the image dissent from a dominant discourse? It dissents from the discourse of conflict or competition between different generations.Does it contain any internal contradictions? NoDoes it display complexity within a discourse? There is some complexity with regard to the extent to which a hierarchy is represented within the team. Image 6:Does he look a bit like Robert Kilroy Silk?not sure how you have categorised the woman in the Blue shirt? I have her as older than the two sitting down but not as okd as the man? younger gen are equal (same colour shirts though different tones, sat close together, hands similar placement.) - older woman is not equal with older man (off to side), she is also the only one not touching the plan.have ‘seen’ the second woman in the photo (the one in the blue shirt) as being of different ages is precisely because of the need for women to look younger, in terms of colouring hair, minimising wrinkles, staying slim, fashionably dressed etc so. So when viewed at a glance or a distance older women look much like their younger counterparts for longer than men look like theirs. (Until they both become beige!)Probably this is very obvious but this ‘agelessness’ in this context only just occurred to me.
