Precarious work, entrepreneurial mindset and sense of place: female strategies in insecure labour markets

Abstract

This article participates in the discussion on the uncertainty of working life by providing a viewpoint of one individual's experience of it. The article argues that entrepreneurship and employment are forms of income that are not separate from each other; instead, in precarious labour markets, individuals can alternate between the two. An entrepreneurial mindset and practices are required from the self-employed and employees alike, but neither form of livelihood ensures a permanent income. Though in different ways, the process of precariatisation touches many groups of people, and the varying alternatives for navigating this situation are deconstructed here. The analysis discusses how surviving precarious labour markets and uncertain income requires a lot of endurance and self-governance as illustrated by an in-depth interview with a woman who lives in a remote area. The analysis also proves that the opportunity to remain in a place of residence and establish a sense of belonging has a significant impact on an individual's ability to experience everyday pleasure and permanence, especially when everything else around them is changing in ways over which they have little control.Keywords: entrepreneurship; precarious work; sense of place; rural areas; gender IntroductionUnpredictability and inconstancy are characteristic of contemporary labour markets. This precarious situation affects not only work but other areas of life as well. As old institutions are losing their ability to provide stability, reliability and predictability, and as companies outsource their operations and agency work increases, individuals are left to their own devices. In such situations, everyone is supposed to assume an entrepreneurial attitude and take care of their employability themselves. One way out is to create their own work as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is not, however, a simple or a permanent solution for employment, as is demonstrated in this article.Another alternative for finding work in a world of changing work trajectories is relocation. However, migration is not an option for everybody; in fact staying put may be an important way of tolerating uncertainty. Therefore, this article explores the question of 'placeness.' Based on previous studies, it is evident that a sense of place influences the choices people make; a place is a limitation but it also provides resources, emotional or other (Eyles 1985;Heikkilä 2011;Ikonen 2008Ikonen , 2012McDowell 1999;Relph 1986;Tolonen 2005;Tuan 1977;Varis 2005). However, the emotionally laden meaning of place has not been significantly addressed in studies on employment and precarity.Actually, placeness and settling down have been seen as opposite conditions to an ideal figure of the current spirit of capitalism (Boltanski and Chiapello 2007). In addition to the concept of a sense of place, I work with the concept of an entrepreneurial mindset, which, in turn, is deduced from critical discussions on working life research that highlights individuality, potentiality, agility, flexibility ...

Passionately yours: Managing emotional and spatial boundaries in lifestyle-based hospitality businesses

“…It is fundamental to small-scale hospitality businesses that the entrepreneur's self is totally involved with the work. This is also what is expected from workers in the new economy: to exhibit excessive attachment to work through their bodies, minds and psychic lives (Ikonen 2013;Irving 2016). In hospitality work, the self is opened to the public, although not completely, and it is here that the need for boundaries is considered.…”

Young adults and the tuning of the entrepreneurial mindset in neoliberal capitalism

“…Here, employability is represented as both a resource (for economic growth) and a solution to problems (unemployment, social marginalization); it is also represented as both a mindset and a real means of making a living (Ikonen 2013). For instance, in Finland, the educational sector is involved in building up the entrepreneurial spirit, which is called 'a sense of enterprise and initiative', and this education starts in the pre-school stage and runs through Higher Education (European Commission 2012, 46; Ministry of Culture and Education 2012).…”

“…Enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit in young people is a means by which economic growth-the core goal of national policies-is incubated. Consequently, individuals with an entrepreneurial mindset are seen to possess the brightest future potential (Ikonen 2013).…”

‘Shut Up for Five Years’: Locating Narratives of Cultural Workers in Scotland's Islands

“…Place facilitates connection and this seems to be particular so for the implant and replant incomer narratives, but so too for the transplant. Yet the tone of each account suggests a self‐awareness of the degrees of locational success within each place where each has laboured to locate within material and social realities; and for cultural workers the accommodation by an island place (physically, socially, economically, emotionally) of one's cultural work and identity as being understood (shared, authenticated, and/or validated) of value, and ‘of this place’ is particularly interesting to reflect on (see Ikonen for a Finnish example).…”

“…Our interest lies in the particular experience of island in‐migrants as cultural workers (Banks ) including artists, craftworkers and those working in the creative and cultural industries (Hesmondhalgh ) within a remote island setting. Ongoing evaluation of the in‐migrant as cultural worker and of incomer experiences suggests that it is not only a ‘good life’ that can be had on Scotland islands but that ‘good work’ can be done there too (Hesmondhalgh and Baker ; Luckman ; Ikonen ; Roberts and Townsend ). This has been recognised and promoted as a key growth policy from within the highlands and islands of Scotland (Highlands and Islands Enterprise ), including the Outer Hebrides (DC Research ), Orkney (Orkney Island Council ) and Shetland (Ekos ) and maps to the broader Scottish Government agenda on creative economies and cultural industries (Scottish Executive ; Dunlop et al .…”