In Work’s Intimacy Melissa Gregg argues the condition experienced by workers today “is to be invested in work as and when required but without the reciprocal assurance from employers that commitment will be rewarded. Such a scenario risks losing the goodwill of employees permanently” (2011: 165). In other words, there is a shifting of standards and expectations by employees and employers – that employees will engage in what McRobbie (2016) describes as “passionate work” – but without any guarantees that this will be rewarded with security or better conditions. This shifting of standards and expectations by employees and employers, in norms of reciprocity, has been referred to as shifts in the nature of the “psychological contract” of work (Rousseau and Schalk 2000).

For this essay you are to discuss the changing expectations and subjective involvement of employees in their work. Examining the case that your group presented, please write a 3,000 word essay. You should include empirical examples or cases, at least one, in your discussion and analysis.

– The sharing economy
– Gamification, fun at work
– Precarious labour and zero hour contracts
– Free labour / unpaid digital labour (*Must be discussed*)
– Freelance cultural production and work
– Media production and digital content management
– Aesthetic labor in the retail and fashion industries
– Computer programming and coding
– Transformation of a ‘traditional’ industry by digital communication and media

Please let me know if any more resources (lecture slides) are needed. Thanks.