Good Jobs or Bad Jobs? Youth Retail Workers and the Service Economy

• In Event: 030 - Regular Session. Sociology of Work, I: The Subjective Experience of Work

Abstract

Despite the increasing relevance of retail in the postindustrial labor market, there is relatively little research focusing on retail workers. We use interviews with 50 former and current clothing retail workers to examine the organization of retail work and workplace inequality. Unlike previous retail studies, we show that for the most part workers engage in retail work because of their financial needs, rather than due to identity work or an interest in discounts. However, poor compensation, variable hours, and lack of advance scheduling make these jobs very difficult to negotiate, with most workers seeing retail work as “bad”.

Authors

• Joya Misra, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

• Kyla Walters, University of Massachusetts-Amherst