(Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love

Brooke Erin Duffy

Published by Yale University Press 2017

(Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love

Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work

Brooke Erin Duffy

https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300227666

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author information

Brooke Erin Duffy is associate professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University. She is the author of Remake, Remodel: Women's Magazines in the Digital Age and co-author of Platforms and Cultural Production.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
1. Entrepreneurial Wishes and Career Dreams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Aspirational Ethos: Gender, Consumerism, and Labor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
3. (Not) Just for the Fun of It: The Labor of Social Media Production Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
4. Branding the Authentic Self: The Commercial Appeal of “Being Real” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
5. “And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor”: Attracting Advertisers, Building Brands, Leveraging (Free) Labor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
6. The “Instagram Filter”: Dispelling the Myths of Entrepreneurial Glamour Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
7. Aspirational Labor’s (In)Visibility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	216
Epilogue: The Aspirational Labor of an Academic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	230
Appendix: Method and List of Interview Participants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298

Language: English
Publisher: Yale University Press
Pages
- Main content: 256
Illustrations
- Other: 8 b-w illus.

eBook

Published: October 8, 2018
ISBN: 9780300227666