Time, Space and Agency in the Finnish Cultural Sector at the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

The organization of working times and workplaces has typically been diverse and hybrid for people working in culture. Work is characterized by precarious conditions such as short-term contracts and seasonal employment. The impact of COVID-19 has shown the vulnerability and uniqueness of the employment conditions in this sector. We collected personal written texts from people working in the cultural sector in spring 2020, when in Finland the first wave of COVID-19 was subsiding and nobody knew when the next wave would come. We analyzed the ways cultural workers constructed agency on temporal and relational dimensions as regards work and non-work. The content analytic approach highlighted two main types of situational agencies, the normative employment agency and the precarious work agency, both of which were shaped by the uncertain conditions of the cultural sector. Due to the differing employment conditions, both intensification of work and small agency were present in work of the cultural sector and posed challenges to the management of time and the future. However, the terms and conditions for agency construction varied, even under similar circumstances.

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“…However, there were no widespread layoffs in the industry dominated by high-skilled freelancers and precarious employment, mostly in the form of informal employment, part-time, and short-term contracts. In contrast, the pandemic has noticeably increased precarious work through an upsurge in freelancing and outsourcing arrangements, particularly for editorial work and content providers, such as writers and translators (EWC, 2022;Haapakorpi et al, 2022;Wall-Andrews, Walker, and Cukier, 2021;Zhukov, Barrett, and Creech, 2023). Moreover, closures have widened the gap between publishing houses and booksellers, who informally outsource work to cut costs.…”

“…However, the crisis had varying implications for different industry segments (Gnezdova, Osipov, and Hriptulov, 2022;Gouvea, Padovani, and Gutierrez, 2023;Khlystova, Kalyuzhnova, and Belitski, 2022). Sectors such as cinema, theatre, and music have suffered substantial losses due to the suspension of community activities (Haapakorpi, Leinonen, and Otonkorpi-Lehtoranta, 2022;Zhang, Ji, Pang, and Suo, 2022). However, digital streaming platforms and gaming industry have shown a remarkable growth (Ryu and Cho, 2022;Snowball and Gouws, 2023;Vlassis, 2021).…”

Diversity in the Workplace: Implications for Collective Organizational Commitment in Nigerian Public Sector Organizations

“…Governments began to realize that encouraging public sector institutions to embrace employees with diverse backgrounds, competencies, and experiences could lead to the creation of tremendous synergic opportunities, which would translate into improved efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services. Haapakorpi et al (2022). Furthermore, many governments envisioned that enacting workforce diversity policies in the public sector would aid the upholding of essential principles such as meritocracy, justice, representativeness, and transparency (Khassawneh and Abaker, 2022).…”

Challenges in Work and Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In this Special Issue, the contribution dealing with pandemic-related unemployment comes from the Finnish cultural sector, which is characterized by established institutions, but also by self-employment and precarious work. Haapakorpi et al [5] collected written texts by artists and professionals about their experience during lockdown, when activities in the cultural sector, particularly in the performing arts, were closed down due to regulations about social distancing. Unemployment and a shortage of assignments for self-employed workers were common consequences in the industry.…”