ABSTRACT
From a certain point of view, salespersons of mass fashion stores can be considered the blue collars of the service society. This equivalence does not concern only mass fashion stores. The overconsumption trends that have been affecting affluent societies encourage chain stores selling cheap home, beauty, and health products to multiply in the city centers and in the malls of suburban areas in the global North and in the largest metropolitan areas of the global South. This book, therefore, can provide interesting insights concerning a pool of low-wage service workers that is enlarging in all advanced economies.
The chapter underlines how the analysis of mass fashion clothing retail can show, in a radicalized form, the consequences of some global trends of contemporary capitalism, such as markets globalization, and financialization of non-financial companies. In particular, the conclusions highlight the impact of these trends in terms of erosion of the value of work and stress how and to what extent institutions can limit their effects. The last part explains how—despite the low recognition received from their managers—salespersons can play an active role in regaining their dignity at work and what the possibilities for collective action are.
