(Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work

Description

An illuminating investigation into a class of enterprising women aspiring to “make it” in the social media economy but often finding only unpaid work Profound transformations in our digital society have brought many enterprising women to social media platforms—from blogs to YouTube to Instagram—in hopes of channeling their talents into fulfilling careers. In this eye-opening book, Brooke Erin Duffy draws much-needed attention to the gap between the handful who find lucrative careers and the rest, whose “passion projects” amount to free work for corporate brands.   Drawing on interviews and fieldwork, Duffy offers fascinating insights into the work and lives of fashion bloggers, beauty vloggers, and designers. She connects the activities of these women to larger shifts in unpaid and gendered labor, offering a lens through which to understand, anticipate, and critique broader transformations in the creative economy. At a moment when social media offer the rousing assurance that anyone can “make it”—and stand out among freelancers, temps, and gig workers—Duffy asks us all to consider the stakes of not getting paid to do what you love. Contents Preface 1. Entrepreneurial Wishes and Career Dreams 2. The Aspirational Ethos: Gender, Consumerism, and Labor 3. (Not) Just for the Fun of It: The Labor of Social Media Production 4. Branding the Authentic Self: The Commercial Appeal of “Being Real” 5. “And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor”: Attracting Advertisers, Building Brands, Leveraging (Free) Labor 6. The “Instagram Filter”: Dispelling the Myths of Entrepreneurial Glamour 7. Aspirational Labor’s (In)Visibility Epilogue: The Aspirational Labor of an Academic Appendix: Method and List of Interview Participants Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index