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Art Workers, Inequality, and the Labour Market: Values, Norms, and Alienation Across Three Generations of Artists

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The Sociology of Arts and Markets

Part of the book series: Sociology of the Arts ((SOA))

Abstract

This chapter considers the experience of inequalities in the market for artists’ labour. We focus on visual artists, using interview data from three white female artists from self-described working-class origins. We compare and contrast an early-career artist, one in mid-career, and one later in her working life. The three artists allow the chapter to explore a set of issues raised by the broader literature on the sociology of artists and cultural labour. These include class and gender discrimination, as well as their relationship to the art market. The chapter seeks to understand how the three case studies speak to the question of who can be an artist, and how the inequalities and norms of the labour market are interpreted and, ultimately, resisted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Orian Brook & Dave O’Brien

  2. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Mark Taylor

Authors
  1. Orian Brook
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  2. Dave O’Brien
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  3. Mark Taylor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dave O’Brien .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria

    Andrea Glauser

  2. University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Patricia Holder

  3. University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Thomas Mazzurana

  4. University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Olivier Moeschler

  5. University of Nantes, Nantes, France

    Valérie Rolle

  6. Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany

    Franz Schultheis

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Brook, O., O’Brien, D., Taylor, M. (2020). Art Workers, Inequality, and the Labour Market: Values, Norms, and Alienation Across Three Generations of Artists. In: Glauser, A., Holder, P., Mazzurana, T., Moeschler, O., Rolle, V., Schultheis, F. (eds) The Sociology of Arts and Markets. Sociology of the Arts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39013-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39013-6_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39012-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39013-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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