Socializing Rejection and Failure in Artistic Occupational Communities

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Skaggs
Keyword(s):  
Market Failure ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Collaborative Relationships ◽  
Nonstandard Employment ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Occupational Communities ◽  
Primary Space

Failure is a normal aspect of work in creative industries; even highly successful artists are subject to rejection by critics, fans, and peers. It is known that organizations such as schools and workplaces are the primary space for job-related socialization, but artistic careers are characterized by nonstandard employment relations and do not generally require formal schooling. Without the bureaucratic structures typically used to socialize novice group members, how do artistic occupational communities socialize aspirants to manage rejection and labor market failure? This article draws from 6 months of participant observation from “Song Club,” a periodic professional workshop for aspiring songwriters where aspirants present a song to publishers in the hopes of having it recorded and released to commercial audiences. During the period of study, 403 songs were presented to publishers, and 327 were rejected. During the workshops, Song Club members are socialized toward normalizing rejection, appropriately interacting with gatekeepers, and developing collaborative relationships with peers. Adopting these norms reduces the likelihood of failure and contextualizes the meaning of rejection in this occupational community.

Organizing for Influence: The Relationship of Structure to Impact

1987 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-116
Author(s):  
Sheila M. Neysmith
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Allocation Policy ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Policy Statements ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
External Forces ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Relationship Of

ABSTRACTThis case study is an analysis of a mandated municipal senior's group. Earlier work has suggested that variability in effectiveness is related to organizational structures, external forces and the level of institutional change sought.In this study information was obtained on the political, economic and social context within which the group operated; its organizational composition and structure; its objectives and strategies employed to achieve these; and resources available to the group. Outcome was assessed in terms of impact on programs, resource allocation, policy statements, changes in the definition of issues, and influence on decision makers. Data collection methods included non-participant observation; taped interviews with group members and leaders; key informants in the community; and content analysis of written committee documents.

Invisibility and Visibility in Alternative Organizing: A Communicative and Cultural Model

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 614-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joëlle M. Cruz
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Grassroots Organizations ◽  
Cultural Model ◽  
Cultural Logic ◽  
Situational Model ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Communicative Processes

This study reengages organizational communication scholarship on invisibility and visibility through a cultural lens. Departing from Western-centered approaches, I deploy African feminisms to examine how organizational members communicatively negotiate invisibility and visibility in a different cultural logic and context. I focus on market women’s susu groups—grassroots organizations—in postconflict Liberia, West Africa. I conducted 100 hr of participant observation and 40 interviews with susu group members in Monrovia, Liberia. I unearth a communicative situational model to culture. At a micro-level, the model uncovers three situational dimensions—temporal, relational, and structural—that shape how organizational members negotiate invisibility and visibility. At a macro-level, the model contributes to emerging work on culture and organizing. In conclusion, the study moves past understandings of culture as a factor to consider underlying assumptions shaping how we conceptualize communicative processes, here invisibility and visibility.

scholarly journals Obesity, stigma and reflexive embodiment: Feeling the ‘weight’ of expectation

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oli Williams ◽  
Ellen Annandale
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Weight Gain ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Obesity Stigma ◽  
Group Members

The dominant obesity discourse which emphasises individual moral responsibility and lifestyle modification encourages weight-based stigma. Existing research overwhelmingly demonstrates that obesity stigma is an ineffective means by which to reduce the incidence of obesity and that it promotes weight-gain. However, the sensate experiences associated with the subjective experience of obesity stigma as a reflexively embodied phenomenon have been largely unexamined. This article addresses this knowledge gap by providing a phenomenological account. Data are derived from 11 months of ethnographic participant observation and semi-structured interviews with three single-sex weight-loss groups in England. Group members were predominantly overweight/obese and of low-socio-economic status. The analysis triangulates these two data sources to investigate what/how obesity stigma made group members feel. We find that obesity stigma confused participant’s objective and subjective experiences of their bodies. This was primarily evident on occasions when group members felt heavier after engaging in behaviours associated with weight-gain but this ‘weight’ did not register on the weighing scales. We conceptualise this as the weight of expectation which is taken as illustrative of the perpetual uncertainty and morality that characterises weight-management. In addition, we show that respondents ascribed their sensate experiences of physiological responses to exercise with moral and social significance. These carnal cues provided a sense of certainty and played an important role in attempts to negotiate obesity stigma. These findings deepen the understanding of how and why obesity stigma is an inappropriate and ineffective means of promoting weight-loss.

Growing Women Entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries in South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 237-261
Author(s):  
Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Women Entrepreneurship ◽  
Women Business Owners ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
New Ideas

This chapter interrogates the potential of women entrepreneurship as an economic strategy to address unemployment and job creation. The chapter focusses on creative industry to demonstrate that creativity and innovations can activate entrepreneurship among women in South Africa. It is through entrepreneurship that entrepreneurs transform their innovative and creative ideas into business enterprises and job creation. Although female entrepreneurship for economic development is recognised internationally, it lags behind those of men especially in the number of women business owners and the size of businesses including access to economic resources. The chapter argues that entrepreneurs are central in boosting the economy and the optimal use of their skills, innovative new ideas that sustain entrepreneurial creative projects. The chapter makes use of a visual profile, participant observation, case studies, and face-to-face interviews with women involved in creative industries such as bead making, pottery, traditional dress-making, and traditional dance.

The Language Policy of Placement Tests for Newcomer English Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 936-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kendall King ◽  
Martha Bigelow
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
High Stakes

U.S. public schools are required to establish policies ensuring that English language learners have equal access to “meaningful education.” This demands that districts put into place mechanisms to determine student eligibility for specialized English language services. For the most states, this federal requirement is fulfilled through the local administration of the WIDA–Access Placement Test (W-APT), arguably the most widely used, yet under-studied, English language assessment in the country. Through intensive participant observation at one, urban new student intake center, and detailed qualitative, discursive analysis of test administration and interaction, we demonstrate how the W-APT works as a high-stakes assessment, screener, and sorter, and how test takers and test administrators locally negotiate this test and enact this federal and state policy. Our analysis indicates that the W-APT is problematic in several respects, most importantly because the test does not differentiate adequately across students with widely different literacy skills and formal schooling experiences.

Labor Market Uncertainties and Youth Labor Force Experiences: Lessons Learned

2020 ◽  
Vol 688 (1) ◽  
pp. 258-270
Author(s):  
Arne L. Kalleberg
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Nonstandard Employment ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
Global North ◽  
Market Uncertainties

Labor market uncertainties have plagued all countries in recent years, but young workers have borne the brunt of these uncertainties. Liberalization of labor markets has transformed work, creating a variety of nonstandard employment relations as well as increasing the number of people who do not have traditional employers. Macro social, political, and economic forces have also made it harder for young adults to gain solid footholds in the labor market. The articles in this issue of The ANNALS present empirical evidence about labor market uncertainties and youth labor force experiences from diverse regions of the world, both in the Global North and Global South: Asia (China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Caucasus and Central Asia); Latin/South America (Mexico, Brazil); Eastern Europe (Lithuania); Western Europe; and the United States. In this epilogue, I summarize the main insights from the articles and draw some broader conclusions about the future of labor market policies to address concerns related to workers’ insecurities and uncertainties.

Innovation for elderly with dementia – localization technology transfer

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Ebbing ◽  
Marzenna Cichosz
Keyword(s):  
Market Failure ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Scenario Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Healthcare It ◽  
Price Differences

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion of transferring modern technology from industries such as logistics to the life of elderly in a way that they can understand, accept and make use of it. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual discussion based on findings from a series of projects in healthcare, IT development and consultancy. The key methodologies considered include technology assessment, scenario development, listening to people with dementia and their caregivers and non-participant observation, as well as reviews of good practice, policy and literature. Findings The transfer considerations showed unreasonable price differences of similar hardware used for localization between the logistics and the elderly market. Bluetooth low energy (BLE) was identified as a promising localization technique. A gap in the marketing of technology for the elderly was identified, virtually fencing the elderly market. Practical implications A lack of transparency fosters market skimming, resulting in deadweight loss for society and technology being restrained from less-solvent consumers. Corrective actions like entrepreneurship facilitation and consumer education should be considered to overcome this market failure. To persevere in a consequently more competitive market, changes in marketing should be considered. Originality/value The work assesses the presence of the innovativeness–needs paradox of Everett Rogers in the field of innovation for the elderly on the basis of an example and identifies the resulting market failure. It suggests a market-entry mode and briefly lays out the marketing modes for market penetration.

scholarly journals Deliberately Casual? Workersʼ Agency, Health, and Nonstandard Employment Relations in Australia

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 620-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Keuskamp ◽  
Catherine R.M. Mackenzie ◽  
Anna M. Ziersch ◽  
Fran E. Baum
Keyword(s):  
Employment Relations ◽  
Nonstandard Employment
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