Retail Work

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores the nature of retail work through the lens of the work of shop assistants. The purpose of this is to explore how the function of realization to which this work contributes influences the orientation, organization, and management of retail work, and the implications of this for the way in which retail work comes to be valued, regulated, and conceived. The chapter traces the gradual deskilling of the shop assistant, but shows how this has gone hand in hand with a growing emphasis on the importance placed on emotional and affective labour as a way for retailers to maintain a competitive advantage. This leads to certain contradictions in the organization and regulation of retail work, which helps to explain some of the features of the way in which it is organized and regulated, today.