The new world of work and employment: fitness workers and what they want from the employment relationship

摘要

This paper reports on an empirically based study of the Queensland (Australia) healthudand fitness industry over 15 years (1993 -2008). This study traces the development ofudthe new occupation of fitness instructor in a service industry which has evolved si nceudthe 1980s and is embedded in values of consumption and individualism. It is the newudworld of work.udThe data from the 1993 study was historically significant, capturing the conditions o fudemployment in an unregulated setting prior to the introduction of the first industrialuda ward in that industry in 1994. Fitness workers bargained directly with employers overudall a spects of the employment relationship without the constraints of industrialudregulation or the presence of trade unions. The substantive outcomes of theudemployment relationship were a direct reflection of m anagerial prerogative and workerudorientation and preference, and did not reflect the rewards and outcomes traditionallyudfound in Australian workplaces. While the focus of the 1993 research was on exploringudthe employment relationship in a deregulated environment, an unusual phenomenonudwas identified: fitness workers happily trading-off what would be considere d standardudworking conditions for the opportunity to work (‘take the stage’).udSince then, several streams of literature have evolved providing a new context forudunderstanding this phenomenon in the fitness industry, including: the sociology of theudbody (Shilling 1993; Turner 1996); emotional (Hochschild 1984) and aesthetic labourud(Warhurst et al 2000); the so cial relations of production and space (Lefebvre 1991;udMoss 1995); body history (Helps 2007); the sociology of consumption (Saunders 1988;udBaudrillard 1998; Ritzer 2004); and work identity (Du Gay 1996; Strangleman 2004).udThe 2008 survey instrument replicated the 1993 study but was additionally informed b yudthe new literature. Surveys were sent to 310 commercial fitness centres and 4,800udfitness workers across Queensland.udWorker orientation appears unchanged, and industry working conditions still seemudatypical despite regulation si nce 1994. We argue that for many fitness workers the goaludis to gain access to the fitness centre economy. For this they are willing to trade-offudstandard conditions of employment, and exchange traditional employm ent rewards forudm ore intrinsic psycho-social rewards gained the through e xp o sure of their physicaludcapital (Bourdieu 1984) o r bo dily prowess to the adoration o f their gazing clients.udBuilding on the tradition of emotional labour and aesthetic labour, this study introducesudthe concept of ocularcentric labour: a state in which labour’s quest for the psychosocialudrewards gained from their own body image shapes the employment relationship.udWith ocularcentric labour the p sycho-social rewards have greater value for the workerudthan ‘hard’, core conditions of employment, and are a significant factor in bargainingudand outcomes, often substituting fo r direct earnings. The wo rkforce profile (young,udfemale, casual) and their expectations (psycho-social rewards of ado ration andudcelebrity) challenge traditional trade unions in terms of what they can deliver, given theudfitness workers’ willingness to trade-off minimum conditions, hard-won by unions.