Caring in Times of Precarity: A Study of Single Women Doing Creative Work in Shanghai (Palgrave Studies in Globalization, Culture and Society)

__Caring in Times of Precarity__ draws together two key cultural observations: the increase in those living a single life, and the growing attraction of creative careers. Straddling this historical juncture, the book focuses on one particular group of ‘precariat’: single women in Shanghai in various forms of creative (self-)employment. While negotiating their share of the uncanny creative work ethos, these women also find themselves interpellated as __shengnü__ (‘left-over women’) in a society configured by a mix of Confucian values, heterosexual ideals, and global images of womanhood. Following these women’s professional, social and intimate lives, the book refuses to see their singlehood and creative labour as problematic, and them as victims. It departs from dominant thinking on precarity, which foregrounds and critiques the contemporary need to be flexible, mobile, and spontaneous to the extent of (self-)exploitation, accepting insecurity. The book seeks to understand– empirically and specifically–women’s everyday struggles and pleasures. It highlights the up-close, everyday embodied, affective, and subjective experience in a particular Chinese city, with broader, global resonances well beyond China. Exploring the limits of the politics of precarity, the book proposes an ethics of care. Caring in Times of Precarity draws together two key cultural observations: the increase in those living a single life, and the growing attraction of creative careers. Straddling this historical juncture, the book focuses on one particular group of 'precariat': single women in Shanghai in various forms of creative (self- )employment. While negotiating their share of the uncanny creative work ethos, these women also find themselves interpellated as shengnü ('left-over women') in a society configured by a mix of Confucian values, heterosexual ideals, and global images of womanhood. Following these women's professional, social and intimate lives, the book refuses to see their singlehood and creative labour as problematic, and them as victims. It departs from dominant thinking on precarity, which foregrounds and critiques the contemporary need to be flexible, mobile, and spontaneous to the extent of (self- )exploitation, accepting insecurity. The book seeks to understand- empirically and specifically-women's everyday struggles and pleasures. It highlights the up-close, everyday embodied, affective, and subjective experience in a particular Chinese city, with broader, global resonances well beyond China. Exploring the limits of the politics of precarity, the book proposes an ethics of care Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Living on My Own, Creatively, Precariously (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 1-50 Living with Their Own Images (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 51-89 Living with a Generation—Qilinghou, Balinghou, Jiulinghou (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 91-117 Balancing Work/Life? (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 119-149 To Love, to Live (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 151-187 Living with Us—The Case of Kunqu (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 189-218 Living with the City (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 219-251 Living with Themselves, Creating Themselves (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 253-286 Epilogue (Chow Yiu Fai)....Pages 287-291 Back Matter ....Pages 293-345