Intern Labour as Regenerative Precarisation in the Cultural and Creative Industries

Abstract

Internships are a precarious labour practice often driven by a combination of labour market competition, desirable work, employer advantages and fictional expectations. This article is based on an empirical study of intern labour in the Cultural and Creative Industries in Ireland. The data consists of a survey of workers and interns, and interviews with interns past and present. Through approaching internships as a form of precarisation, and intern labour through the lens of ‘fictional expectations’, this article provides an analysis of intern labour as a form of regenerative precarisation through the self-reinforcing tendencies of action, subjectivity, discursive constructs and social structures. The labour market practice of interning creates discursive, normative and structural patterns of precarisation. These patterns in turn shape subjective and intersubjective expectations of work and life, impacting on the actions that individuals make and thus acting as drivers of further precarisation.