« Masters of the streets » : vêtements et images des promoteurs de boites de nuit

Abstract

Based on a sixteen-month ethnographic fieldwork in the seaside resort of Lloret de Mar on the Spanish Costa Brava, this article focuses on the clothing of seasonal workers promoting nightclubs by walking the streets of the city, as well as the diffusion of images of these workers on social networks. These promoters are of two types, implying different gender roles and image strategies: touts and hostesses. This work, objectively difficult (staggered hours, low income, precariousness, difficulties in convincing tourists, exposure to risks of symbolic and physical violence, etc.), is staged by the workers (via their outfits, their photographs and the diffusion of these) to show that it is a rewarding job. This research, nourished by interviews, social network monitoring and participant observation as a nightclub tout, allows for an analysis in terms of gender and class around the question of the image of work (for oneself, for the company, for clients) and of the image of oneself.

Keywords

• tourism
• nightclubs
• seasonal workers
• social networks
• gender