Labour identities in the retail industry in Chile: patterns of precarization, individualisation and entrepreneurialisation

Abstract

Three key interpretations of the contemporary labour subject - precarised, individualised, entrepreneurialised - are discussed on the basis of the results of two qualitative studies. The aim of these studies was to understand the processes of construction of labour identities of workers in shops of large and modernised companies in the retail industry in Chile. Narrative interviews and focus groups were conducted with a total of 127 workers, which were subjected to narrative analysis (interviews) and content analysis (focus groups) in an attempt to understand how workers in the sector interpret their work experience and construct a particular meaning of themselves. Three plots of meaning were identified - precarisation, individualisation and entrepreneurialisation - which are intertwined and expressed in specific ways given the characteristics of the retail industry in Chile and the particular and situated experiences of its workers. Based on these results, we discuss the scope, relevance and limitations of the way in which the three key ways of reading the contemporary labour subject mentioned above have been habitually used in Labour Studies.