Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on innovative, empirical research on the working lives of classical musicians in Germany and the United Kingdom. It explores a range of timely issues, such as the gender, racial, and class inequalities that characterise the classical music profession; the ways in which entrepreneurialism–as an ethos to work on and improve the self–is lived out. The book employs Foucauldian governmentality theory and is embedded in cultural studies, gender studies, and sociology. It explains the analysis of work in the classical music profession speaks to a growing interest in the working conditions characterising the cultural sector. The book traces how entrepreneurial subjectivity is registered and negotiated. It discusses directions for further analysis by highlighting several issues, such as the work on the body that musicians may engage in and the various gendered forms it takes.