Walking mannequins : how race and gender inequalities shape retail clothing work

In malls across the United States, clothing retail workers navigate low wages and unpredictable schedules. Despite these problems, they devote time and money to mirror the sleek mannequins stylishly adorned with the latest merchandise. Bringing workers' voices to the fore, sociologists Joya Misra and Kyla Walters demonstrate how employers reproduce gendered and racist "beauty" standards by regulating workers' size and look. Interactions with customers, coworkers, and managers further reinforce racial hierarchies. New surveillance technologies also lead to ineffective corporate decision-making based on flawed data. By focusing on the interaction of race, gender, and surveillance, Walking Mannequins sheds important new light on the dynamics of retail work in the twenty-first century. Introduction : "If they could put you in the store as a mannequin, they would" -- Low wages, little training, and unpredictable hours : "It makes you realize how awful these retail jobs are" -- Multilevel management and the service panopticon : "We've only had one district manager that was a normal human being" -- Coworkers and belonging : "We are like a family," "If it weren't for work, I wouldn't talk to you" -- Customer expectations and emotional labor : "It's all about the customer's experience" -- Beautiful bodies on the sales floor : "They basically look for people that look like the posters" -- Modeling the merchandise : "They always check you, from head to toe" -- Conclusion -- Appendix : research design and methods "Walking Mannequins explores clothing retail workers' experiences in stores oriented toward teens and twenty-somethings using interviews. We aim to understand how employers regulate beauty- and brand-oriented 'aesthetic labor,' how workers must look and act to evoke the brand they represent. We find that workers deal with ever-changing schedules and constant surveillance. Racial hierarchies are visible both in the body rules that workers must follow and their relationships with managers, coworkers, and customers. By focusing on the intersection of race, gender, and new surveillance technologies, Walking Mannequins contributes to existing research on inequality and labor in the twenty-first century"-- Provided by publisher