(Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender and Aspirational Labor in the Social Media Economy

This book explores the gap between women who find lucrative careers in the social media economy and those who do unpaid work for corporate brands. It provides insights into the work and lives of fashion bloggers, beauty vloggers, and designers and connects their activities to broader shifts in unpaid and gendered labor.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 05 April 2022
Publisher: Yale University Press

An illuminating investigation into a class of enterprising women aspiring to "make it" in the social media economy, but often finding only unpaid work. Profound transformations in our digital society have brought many enterprising women to social media platforms, from blogs to YouTube to Instagram, in hopes of channeling their talents into fulfilling careers. In this eye-opening book, Brooke Erin Duffy draws much-needed attention to the gap between the handful who find lucrative careers and the rest, whose "passion projects" amount to free work for corporate brands.

Drawing on interviews and fieldwork, Duffy offers fascinating insights into the work and lives of fashion bloggers, beauty vloggers, and designers. She connects the activities of these women to larger shifts in unpaid and gendered labor, offering a lens through which to understand, anticipate, and critique broader transformations in the creative economy. At a moment when social media offer the rousing assurance that anyone can "make it" and stand out among freelancers, temps, and gig workers, Duffy asks us all to consider the stakes of not getting paid to do what you love.

Dimension: 21 x 14 x 3 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300264753