scholarly journals Drag Performers’ Perspectives on the Mainstreaming of British Drag: Towards a Sociology of Contemporary Drag

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003803852110083
Author(s):  
Mark McCormack ◽  
Liam Wignall
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Career Opportunity ◽  
Cultural And Creative Industries ◽  
British Culture ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Inductive Analysis

Drag performance has entered mainstream British culture and is gaining unprecedented appreciation and recognition, yet no sociological accounts of this transformation exist. Using an inductive analysis of in-depth interviews with 25 drag performers, alongside netnography of media and other public data, this article develops a sociological understanding of the mainstreaming of drag. There are two clear reasons for the success of drag. First, there is a pull towards drag: it is now seen as a viable career opportunity where performers receive fame rather than social stigma in a more inclusive social zeitgeist, even though the reality is more complex. Second, there is a push away from other creative and performing arts because heteronormative perspectives persist through typecasting and a continued professional stigma associated with drag. In calling for a sociology of drag, future avenues for research on contemporary drag are discussed, alongside the need for the sociology of cultural and creative industries to incorporate sexuality as both a subject and analytic lens.

scholarly journals From Unspeakability to Inequality Talk: Why Conversations about Inequalities May Not Lead to Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Marie Scharff
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Consistent Feature ◽  
Open Discussion ◽  
Cultural And Creative Industries ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Important Shift

This article draws on eighteen qualitative in-depth interviews with female, early-career classical musicians to investigate if, and if so in which ways, recent discourse around the lack of diversity in the classical music profession has affected how young musicians talk about inequalities in the field of classical music. The article demonstrates that the research participants were aware of ongoing inequalities and discussed them openly. This marks an important shift from previously conducted research, which highlighted the ‘unspeakability’ of inequalities in the classical music profession and the cultural and creative industries. By drawing on discursive psychology, this article explores the rhetorical and ideological work that such ‘inequality talk’ performs, arguing that conversations about inequalities do not necessarily lead to political change. Divided into three analytical sections, the article demonstrates that inequality talk can become an end in itself, rather than a means to an end (such as political change); that a fatalist sentiment can characterise discussions of inequalities, presenting structural change as unachievable; and that acknowledgement and recognition of privilege, crucial to overcoming inequalities, is not a consistent feature of inequality talk, which in turn risks reinforcing the normativity of whiteness and middle-classness in the field of classical music. Overall, the article provides a detailed analysis of recently collected empirical data to caution against overly optimistic accounts of the shift towards a more open discussion of inequalities in the classical music profession and beyond.

scholarly journals Coworking Spaces as a Driver of the Post-Fordist City: a Tool for Building a Creative Ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-125
Author(s):  
Pavel Bednář ◽  
Lukáš Danko
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Community Initiatives ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Coworking Spaces ◽  
Cultural And Creative Industries ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
The Eu

Collaborative places nurture creativity and efficiency of cultural and creative industries. Research in collaborative places revealed they are essential for networking and cooperation in the creative ecosystem. The results of studies focusing on competitiveness of coworking spaces and their effect on boosting entrepreneurship are rather vague. Furthermore, an awareness of how coworking spaces stimulate coworkers to engage in urban regeneration through local community initiatives is limited. Hence, this study seeks to provide an insight into coworking spaces from the organizational perspective devoted to entrepreneurship and competitiveness. Simultaneously, the paper aims to reveal synergies between creative communities and local development. The method of data gathering consists of semi-structured in-depth interviews with managers and entrepreneurs from selected countries of the EU applying the grounded theory for their analysis. The results suggest that coworking spaces indicate a boosting of the entrepreneurship of the creative class through collective projects. These activities tend to stimulate knowledge creation and open innovation in the creative ecosystem that benefit local development. Coworking spaces also represent a driving force to initiate and maintain a dialogue between the creative ecosystem and local authorities for culture-led urban development.

Torn between the Old and New World of Work: Insights into the Modernised Semi-Profession of the Fashion IndustryDate submitted: December 31, 2019Date accepted after double-blind review: February 1, 2021

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-265
Author(s):  
Alexandra Manske
Keyword(s):  
Role Model ◽  
New World ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Blind Review ◽  
Training Structures ◽  
Cultural And Creative Industries ◽  
Low Pay

This paper explores how persistent gender inequalities of the old world of work are amplified by the new world of work. Focusing on the fashion industry of Berlin, the article offers insight into a female-dominated field of labour as a particular field of labour of the cultural and creative industries (CCI). The CCI is regarded as a role model for new work. However, they entail deep gender inequalities in terms of segregation, low status and low pay. The paper addresses the question of how these gendered inequalities in the fashion industry are intertwined with its professional mechanisms and training structures. Based on a qualitative study, I argue that the fashion industry is a modernised semi-profession, which has been undergoing a market-driven professionalisation. However, this new pathway into the fashion industry fails to fully professionalise that industry. On contrary, it erects new occupational barriers into the field of labour that help establish high qualified and low qualified fashion work that also aids in polarising the still mostly female workforce in terms of status and rewards. Overall, it should become clear that the fashion industry is torn between the old and new world of work which helps to maintain or even reinforce traditional gender inequalities.

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