"Applying Venture Labor: Lessons for the Field of Communication"

• In Event: Venture Labor: Work and “The Good Life”

Abstract

This talk contextualizes the concept of Venture Labor for communication scholars, presenting the key findings from the book and extending the ways in which the concept of venture labor can be applied across media industries. For example, provide communication and media work often requires multiple unpaid internships as a de facto requirement for entry into a paid position. Usually considered training opportunities, unpaid work on the part of potential employees as entry into a firm or field could be seen as a form of venture labor and such internships are on the rise among college students and recent graduates. Communication, media, and cultural industries also have a long tradition of working on “spec” or speculative forays into the creation of specific products, further encouraging an entrepreneurial stance from workers. Finally, this presentation raises the questions of how to the field can begin to build theories that address the complexities of contemporary work and how the "good life" is often framed as a set of entrepreneurial choices.

Author

• Gina Neff, U of Washington