Biography and Care. Experiences of People Employed in Small and Medium-Sized Service Enterprises
Biography and Care. Experiences of People Employed in Small and Medium-Sized Service Enterprises
Thursday, 10 July 2025: 01:15
Location: ASJE031 (Annex of the Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences)
Oral Presentation
The presentation aims to analyse the relationship between care - specifically workers' care - and biography. Drawing on a framework of care derived from a feminist approach (Bhattacharya 2017, Aruzza 2014, Phillips 2007, Tronto 1993), care is hereby defined as a relational social practice in workplace, between employees.
This paper explores the use of care as an analytical framework to examine the dynamics of the Polish labour market, focusing in particular on small and medium-sized service companies (retail, catering, hotel industry), i.e. workplaces where many employees face daily stressors such as overwork, violence, fatigue and discrimination.
The two main research questions address the relevance of individual biographical experiences in shaping workers' care practices and the relevance of the specificity of service work (the triad of co-workers-customers-supervisors) in shaping practices of workers care.
Based on 18 autobiographical narrative interviews (Schütze 1992) conducted with employees of service companies, I analyse care as a practice rooted not only in everyday life, but also in biography, in the sense that dispositions to care are shaped over the course of a lifetime, rooted in the experiences of individuals at different stages of existence and in different places: in the family and among relatives, in social groups, at different levels of education, in a variety of workplaces. The results of the empirical study show that even in a difficult workplace, where rather weak ties and alienation can be expected, care can have the potential not only to alleviate everyday tensions but also to be subversive, i.e. can be used to challenge dominant workplace norms and hierarchies. Care practices can offer an alternative way of organising work and labour relations.
This paper explores the use of care as an analytical framework to examine the dynamics of the Polish labour market, focusing in particular on small and medium-sized service companies (retail, catering, hotel industry), i.e. workplaces where many employees face daily stressors such as overwork, violence, fatigue and discrimination.
The two main research questions address the relevance of individual biographical experiences in shaping workers' care practices and the relevance of the specificity of service work (the triad of co-workers-customers-supervisors) in shaping practices of workers care.
Based on 18 autobiographical narrative interviews (Schütze 1992) conducted with employees of service companies, I analyse care as a practice rooted not only in everyday life, but also in biography, in the sense that dispositions to care are shaped over the course of a lifetime, rooted in the experiences of individuals at different stages of existence and in different places: in the family and among relatives, in social groups, at different levels of education, in a variety of workplaces. The results of the empirical study show that even in a difficult workplace, where rather weak ties and alienation can be expected, care can have the potential not only to alleviate everyday tensions but also to be subversive, i.e. can be used to challenge dominant workplace norms and hierarchies. Care practices can offer an alternative way of organising work and labour relations.