Books
The Lure of Risk: Surviving and Welcoming Uncertainty in the New Economy
The new economy made risk and risk taking desirable, and this is one of its enduring social consequences. After decades of growing concern with job security, downsizing, and corporate cutbacks, the lure of risk during the dot-com boom made the lack of security seem like a choice—and a good one at that for those working […]
Associating Independents: Business Relationships and the Culture of Independence in the Dot-Com Era
One version of the history of cyberculture, albeit a simple and condensed version, tells the story of an independent media space for free cultural experimentation that was co-opted by people looking for quick and easy profits during the dot-com oom. Individual innovation and creative drive clearly shaped cyberculture and the World Wide Web since the […]
Entrepreneurial Labor among Cultural Producers: ‘‘Cool’’ Jobs in ‘‘Hot’’ Industries
This article compares the work of fashion models and ‘‘new media workers’’ (those who work in the relatively new medium of the Internet as dot-com workers) in order to highlight the processes of entrepreneurial labor in culture industries. Based on interviews and participant-observation in New York City, we trace how entrepreneurial labor becomes intertwined with work identities in cultural industries […]