Precarious labour and unpaid work: the processes that fragment cultural democracy

Abstract

This paper examines unpaid creative work, taking into account the experiences of freelance creative workers, particularly those working in performance art, in Mexico City. The questions guiding this research are: what attitudes do actors and actresses have towards unpaid work when labour conditions are precarious and unequal? What attitudinal changes to unpaid work prevail in relation to the creative workers’ socioeconomic level and career stage? Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with 21 freelance creative workers, the results of this study show that unpaid work is experienced differently according to socioeconomic level and career stage. The contribution to the body of scholarship on precarity is empirical, by examining the negotiations and tensions around unpaid creative work, as well as the contexts in which this practice takes place. Although this research is situated in Mexico City, the results are transferred to other contexts of Latin America.

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