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Working in the Biz: Material and Identity Processes of Bartending

Bartending makes for an interesting case study in that it brings together research
on emotional labor and tipped front-line service jobs, as well as the contemporary
increase in precarity in work and precarity in life. This project explores the material and
identity processes of bartending, examining how a precarious job with high expectations
of emotional labor in-turn affects the occupational and personal identities of those
employed in the industry. Overall three overarching themes were identified: (1) When
wages are outsourced to customers via tipping systems workers are exposed to
particularly high emotional demands, rendering bartending a unique form of quid pro quo
emotional labor. (2) Bartenders exist in a “default career” mode of employment that is
stigmatized for being low-status low-skilled labor. (3) Performing emotional labor and
managing stigma creates a divergence between bartender’s personal and occupational
identities resulting in constant identity work on and off the job. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_34548
ContributorsFrazer, Jacqueline M.E. (author), Hough, Phillip A. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Sociology
PublisherFlorida Atlantic University
Source SetsFlorida Atlantic University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text
Format78 p., application/pdf
RightsCopyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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