Waubonsee Community College

Walking mannequins, how race and gender inequalities shape retail clothing work, Joya Misra and Kyla Walters

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Walking mannequins

bibliography

1261770512

Joya Misra and Kyla Walters

how race and gender inequalities shape retail clothing work

"Walking Mannequins explores clothing retail workers' experiences in stores oriented toward teens and twenty-somethings using interviews. We aim to understand how employers regulate beauty- and brand-oriented 'aesthetic labor,' how workers must look and act to evoke the brand they represent. We find that workers deal with ever-changing schedules and constant surveillance. Racial hierarchies are visible both in the body rules that workers must follow and their relationships with managers, coworkers, and customers. By focusing on the intersection of race, gender, and new surveillance technologies, Walking Mannequins contributes to existing research on inequality and labor in the twenty-first century"--, Provided by publisher

Introduction : "If they could put you in the store as a mannequin, they would" -- Low wages, little training, and unpredictable hours : "It makes you realize how awful these retail jobs are" -- Multilevel management and the service panopticon : "We've only had one district manager that was a normal human being" -- Coworkers and belonging : "We are like a family," "If it weren't for work, I wouldn't talk to you" -- Customer expectations and emotional labor : "It's all about the customer's experience" -- Beautiful bodies on the sales floor : "They basically look for people that look like the posters" -- Modeling the merchandise : "They always check you, from head to toe" -- Conclusion -- Appendix : research design and methods