ABSTRACT
Recent writing on the sociology of work has suggested that so rapid are the changes taking place in Western European societies that there is an element of opaqueness or simple uncertainty about how working life is going to develop in the coming years. Ulrich Beck, for example, talks about ‘abnormal work’ whose ‘unpredictable and erratic’ rhythms are becoming the norm for an increasing number of people today (Beck 1997). He has recently spoken on the idea of ‘capital without jobs’, and of ‘work being threatened with extinction’ (ibid.). These useful, if rather polemical, epithets touch on issues that have been central to this current work. This study certainly charts the growth of ‘jobs without capital’ but emphasises not so much the extinction of work, as the determination to create work against the odds. We have seen young designers create jobs more or less out of nothing, on the strength of £1,000, usually loaned by parents, to put in a bank account in order to qualify for the EAS. This has provided the basis for setting up in business. By getting hold of remnants of fabric and with a minimum of equipment (sewing machine and press) most of the young designers in this book were able to insert themselves into the fashion economy and maintain a presence in the do-it-yourself sector of the urban street markets, stalls, units, and small shops, creating employment out of unemployment, making careers out of culture and pursuing these careers with a commitment far beyond what might be expected were they simply looking for paid employment. I conclude this section on the working practices of the designers by further exploring the scale of their economies and the sustainability of this kind of creative work.
