The Ethics of Insecurity

Abstract

This article discusses the working lives of individuals working in the British independent television production sector. It focuses on the material reality of their individualised, precarious working environment, investigating the disjuncture between the precarious, insecure nature of creative labour within this industry, which engenders stress and anxiety, and the intense emotional pleasure associated with such work. While the tension between ‘pleasure’ and ‘pain’ within creative occupations has been well documented (e.g. McRobbie, 2002b; Ursell, 2000), this article argues that in order to fully understand the subjective responses to creative work we need to look beyond the dominant post-Foucauldian approach in this field and attempt to understand cultural work as a site for moral work (Banks, 2006). Creative occupations are sites of exploitation and intense insecurity fuelled by the desire for self-actualisation. However, they are also spaces where workers have an ethical commitment to, and passion for, their cultural work.