Bound to be an Artist: Commitment Devices and the Value of “Bad Jobs” for Aspiring Artists

• In Event: 2451 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 1. Creative and Knowledge Workers

Abstract

Why do aspiring artists have such bad day jobs? Interviews with 73 aspiring artists reveal that they intentionally pursue paid work that is both poorly compensated and unfulfilling, even when better options are available. Analyzing respondents’ evaluations of past, current, and hypothetical future jobs, I show that artists are conscious of having multiple possible futures and prefer dead-end day jobs as a way to avoid the temptation of settling for easier or more lucrative careers. In contrast with prior research on job preference that focuses on jobs’ economic or intrinsic attributes, and with prior research that highlights the jobs’ consistency with the actor’s identity, I find that aspiring artists use bad jobs as a commitment device. The case offers a new substantive explanation for why artists are so often poor and extends the theory of future expectations by incorporating the concept of commitment, while pointing the way to an enriched sociological conception of the commitment device.

Author

• Laura Adler, Harvard University