What lies beyond the field? Understanding the relationship between cultural production and social reproduction


Kim de Laat, University of Waterloo

Like other forms of paid labour, paid creative work is made possible for many by the unpaid reproductive labour of others. Compared to other sites of work, the role of caregiving responsibilities in creative industries has received scant attention. Emphasis on precarity, which has dominated the research agenda over the past decade, includes characterizations of creative work as entrepreneurial and self-expressive on the one hand, or self-exploitative and anxiety-inducing on the other. Both extremes contain an unstated assumption that creative work is nevertheless possible, albeit under less-than-ideal circumstances. But caregiving constrains the very opportunity to pursue creative work, based on family dynamics. Through couple interviews with parents working in or opting out of creative work (N=20), this paper investigates how social reproduction within families helps or hinders the pursuit of creative practice. Empirically, it identifies the experiential dimensions of time as a major influence. Namely, individuals find time, flex time, or forego time for creative practice, with each approach holding major implications for creative career longevity and financial precarity. Theoretically, this paper highlights the conceptual purchase gained from synthesizing socio-cognitive theories of time and temporality (Sharma, 2014; Zerubvael 1981) with feminist theories of care (Doucet, 2023; Tronto, 2013).  

This paper will be presented at the following session: