‘I can pick my little one up from school’: The contradictory role of social reproduction in understanding the impact of bogus self-employment on working lives: Dr Martí López-Andreu and Dr Julie Morgan

Event Date: 1 May 2024

Speaker: Dr Martí López-Andreu and Dr Julie Morgan, Newcastle University

Time: 3pm-4pm

Venue: Teaching & Learning Building, Room TL5.53, 49 Richmond Street, Glasgow G1 1XU

Abstract:

This paper discusses how workers in ‘bogus self-employment’ (BSE) manage associated risks and vulnerabilities by foregrounding the relevance of reproductive labour in the household economy of precarious and BSE workers. With qualitative data we analyse how individuals balance BSE work with family life. Drawing on data from diverse sectors, identified with particular age/gender intersections, we empirically investigate the ‘grey zone’ of unpaid labour that is often tolerated by workers competing for precarious work and we outline how different groups of workers relate with the social reproduction sphere. Focusing on household dynamics we gain significant insights into the tensions experienced by precarious workers and their different experiences. From our analysis themes emerged which suggested a gender-integrated life course approach which we situated within an intersectional feminist political economy (FPE) framework. Our contribution is to provide empirical evidence of the ‘grey zone’ (Pulignano and Morgan, 2023) of unpaid labour and the role of social reproduction in understanding the experiences of insecure and precarious work.

Published: 21 May 2024