Precarious Passion or Passionate Precariousness? Narratives from co-research in Journalism and Editing

Abstract

In journalism and editing, as one particular field of cognitive and knowledge la­bour, workers' experiences of passion and precarisation lay closely together, as the work organisation is more and more dominated by market imperatives and labour control restructured as a mix of blackmailing and subjectification. Based on a co-research process and informed bythe theoretical concept of biopolitics, this article analyses workers' daily coping practices in face of precarisation. In doing so, it particularly insists in the role played by strong intrinsic work motivations typical for this type of knowledge work. Narratives are a central element of this investigation as they are used to assess workers’ sense constructions, and namely the inherent contradictions and implications for workers' agency potential. Outcomes are ambiguous, highlighting practices of self-ex­ploitation sustained by a peculiar mix of passion and fear, practices of frustra­ted and individualised emotional withdrawal from work, as well as new lines of conflict and collective mobilisation.

Keywords

• precariousness
• cognitive labour
• coping practices
• co-research