Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries
The idea of understanding working life in terms of a "career" may seem commonsense for societies characterised by a complex division of labour and individual progressions through a hierarchy of positions. This is not always the case. The activities, understandings and contingencies associa...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Common Ground
2008
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3721 |
| _version_ | 1848744309560442880 |
|---|---|
| author | Bennett, Dawn Moore, Philip |
| author_facet | Bennett, Dawn Moore, Philip |
| author_sort | Bennett, Dawn |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The idea of understanding working life in terms of a "career" may seem commonsense for societies characterised by a complex division of labour and individual progressions through a hierarchy of positions. This is not always the case. The activities, understandings and contingencies associated with many careers are not widely understood, and it is these career-oriented activities and understandings that are apt to be of particular significance in establishing an identity for the worker. In this paper we explore how careers are made and understood in two workplace cultures: the orchestra and the building industry. Our argument is that while these workplaces are structured in very different ways, there are distinct similarities in the constraints and possibilities faced by their respective workforces. Through a comparative account of these two workplace cultures we seek to show that we can better understand each by teasing out ethnographic insights that illuminate features of the other. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T05:59:25Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-3721 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T05:59:25Z |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| publisher | Common Ground |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-37212017-01-30T10:33:27Z Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries Bennett, Dawn Moore, Philip musicians subcontractors career Workplace culture comparison The idea of understanding working life in terms of a "career" may seem commonsense for societies characterised by a complex division of labour and individual progressions through a hierarchy of positions. This is not always the case. The activities, understandings and contingencies associated with many careers are not widely understood, and it is these career-oriented activities and understandings that are apt to be of particular significance in establishing an identity for the worker. In this paper we explore how careers are made and understood in two workplace cultures: the orchestra and the building industry. Our argument is that while these workplaces are structured in very different ways, there are distinct similarities in the constraints and possibilities faced by their respective workforces. Through a comparative account of these two workplace cultures we seek to show that we can better understand each by teasing out ethnographic insights that illuminate features of the other. 2008 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3721 Common Ground fulltext |
| spellingShingle | musicians subcontractors career Workplace culture comparison Bennett, Dawn Moore, Philip Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries |
| title | Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries |
| title_full | Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries |
| title_fullStr | Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries |
| title_short | Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries |
| title_sort | careers and contingencies: constructing careers in the music and building industries |
| topic | musicians subcontractors career Workplace culture comparison |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3721 |