Invisible labor : hidden work in the contemporary world /

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword: invisible labor, inaudible voice / by Arlie Hochschild -- Introduction: conceptualizing invisible labor / by Winifred R. Poster, Marion Crain, and Miriam A. Cherry -- The eye sees what the mind knows: the conceptual foundations of invisible work / by John W. Budd -- Maintaining hierarchies in predominantly white organizations: a theory of racial tasks as invisible labor / by Adia Harvey Wingfield and Renée Skeete -- Virtual work and invisible labor / by Miriam A. Cherry -- The virtual receptionist with a human touch: opposing pressures of digital automation and outsourcing in interactive services / by Winifred R. Poster -- Hidden from view: disability, segregation, and work / by Elizabeth Pendo -- Simply white: race, politics, and invisibility in advertising depictions of farm labor / by Evan Stewart -- Producing invisibility: surveillance, hunger, and work in the produce aisles of Wal-mart, China / by Eileen Otis and Zheng Zhao -- The female breast as brand: the aesthetic labor of breastaurant servers / by Dianne Avery -- The invisible consequences of aesthetic labor in upscale retail stores / by Christine Williams and Catherine Connell -- From invisible work to invisible workers: the impact of service employers: speech demands on the working class / by Chris Warhurst -- Self-branding among freelance knowledge workers / by Adam Arvidsson, Alessandro Gandini, and Carolina Bandinelli -- Consuming work / by Marion Crain.

"Demographic and technological trends have yielded new forms of work that are increasingly more precarious, globalized, and brand centered. Some of these shifts have led to a marked decrease in the visibility of work or workers. This edited collection examines situations in which technology and employment practices hide labor within the formal paid labor market, with implications for workplace activism, social policy, and law. In some cases, technological platforms, space, and temporality hide workers and sometimes obscure their tasks as well. In other situations, workers may be highly visible--indeed, the employer may rely upon the workers' aesthetics to market the branded product--but their aesthetic labor is not seen as work. In still other cases, the work occurs within a social interaction and appears as leisure--a voluntary or chosen activity--rather than as work. Alternatively, the workers themselves may be conceptualized as consumers rather than as workers. Crossing the occupational hierarchy and spectrum from high- to low-waged work, from professional to manual labor, and from production to service labor, the authors argue for a broader understanding of labor in the contemporary era. This book adopts an interdisciplinary approach that integrates perspectives from law, sociology, and industrial/labor relations"--Provided by publisher.