| dc.description.abstract | This study is set in the broad context of the changing world of work that is
characterised by the dissolution of full-time stable employment and the
emergence of precarious, insecure forms of work (see e.g. Gorz, 1999, Hardt and
Negri, 2005, Huws, 2016, Lorey, 2015, Ross, 2003, Ross, 2009, Smith, 2001,
Standing, 2011). As a response to these labour market uncertainties a growing
number of individuals are managing multiple areas of the self as part of their
work or occupation. This trend has been termed 'the new worker-subjectivity' or
'the entrepreneurial self' that is formed through practices of self-management
(Bührmann, 2005, Lorey, 2009). Despite increasing awareness of the emergence
of the entrepreneurial worker-subjectivity, research into practices of self-management
has only focused on occupational groups in formal work. Knowledge
about the trend in the context of virtual workers who operate outside of
conventional working relations and have no publicly recognised work identity is
largely missing.
In order to address this gap, this study explores how entrepreneurial worker-subjectivities
manifest in professional online poker players as an emerging online
occupation. It investigates how these workers manage themselves in the absence
of formal organisational control and socially recognised occupational norms, and
asks what are the effects of this self-management on the quality of their working
lives? The study is based on 39 in-depth interviews with people involved in online
poker or other similar activities such as online gaming or trading. The interviews
were conducted either face-to-face in Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and UK or over
Skype between December 2012 and May 2014.
The study develops an analytical framework for researching entrepreneurial
worker-subjectivities in the context of an emerging occupation and a three-stage-model
of the trajectory that provides a basis for exploring the career paths of
professional online poker players. Using these framework, the study finds that
professional online poker players manage various areas of the self by following
informal occupational rules and that their sense of professionalism is largely
derived from various practices of self-management that help them distinguish
from recreational players. The study also discovers conflicting relations of
autonomy and control among the workers and a range of negative effects that
self-management practices have on professional online poker players. It
concludes that professional online poker is not a sustainable long-term career
option. These findings contribute to a better understanding of virtual work, the
emergence of online poker playing as a form of work and the development of the
entrepreneurial worker-subjectivity. | en_US |
