Gentrified Labour - by Alessandro Gandini (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

What counts as 'good' work under contemporary Western capitalism? As middle-class occupations demand greater attachment to work amid structural insecurity, many workers turn to manual and material work in search of meaningful work. The book shows how jobs previously considered as low-status are 'resignified' into meaningful occupations via 'artisanalization', and argues that manual labour has not simply been rediscovered, but gentrified. As aspirations for meaningful work are changing, the book reveals that the revival of manual work does not constitute a rejection of middle-class work, but one of its contemporary reconfigurations and discusses its contradictions.

About the Author

Alessandro Gandini is Associate Professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Milan and the Principal Investigator of the "CRAFTWORK" project, funded by ERC Starting Grants (2020)