A major new research monograph, Aesthetic Labour, has been co-authored by Professor Dennis Nickson from the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation.
Written with Professor Chris Warhurst from the University of Warwick, the book develops an in-depth analysis of aesthetic labour which was initially developed by professors Nickson and Warhust as a new concept in the late 1990s.
The book synthesises over 20 years of research and thinking about aesthetic labour, which in simple terms is the hiring of staff who look good and sound right for jobs in industries such as hospitality and retail. Once these employees are hired they are further instructed in dress, body language and speech to present the organisation’s ‘ideal’ of what an employee should look and sound like.
Since the coining of the term it has become an important concept in the sociology of work and there is now a significant field of research in this area, which has followed the initial conceptualisation. This book is the first time that all of the primary data collected by the authors has been presented in a single source, often with new insights and data that has not previously been published, as well as seeking to link and contextualise this data with a number of other studies which have sought to build on the original work done on aesthetic labour.
The book is published by Sage and details can be found here: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/aesthetic-labour/book232313