Week 2      

Despite the proliferation of accounts of the freedom and entrepreneurialism of new media work, research on workers in this sector suggests that conditions can be far from egalitarian. This week we will examine the ways in which new working practices might be seen to relate to wider social transformations such as individualisation. Andrew Ross, one author who has written extensively about the down sides of new media work, has gone so far to call web designers ‘net slaves’. We will critically discuss this claim.

McRobbie, A. (2002) 'From Holloway to Hollywood: Happiness at work in the new cultural economy?' in du Gay, P. & Pryke, M. (Eds.) Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life. London, Sage [HANDOUT]

Ross, A. (2003) No-collar: the humane workplace and its hidden costs. Philadelphia, Temple University Press

Schwarz, H. (2003) 'Mobile Workplacing: Office Design, Space and Technology', in Garsten, C. & H. Wulff (Ed) New Technologies at Work. Oxford, Berg.

Week 3      

Week 4