The effects of visibility on solidarity: Post-pandemic online organising for the good (work) life amongst creative freelancers

Patrick-Thomson, Holly

Abstract

Many creatives freelance in pursuit of the good life: but their independence comes at the price of job security. This paper explores how creative freelancers organised via Facebook to support one another in the wake of the pandemic. It asks: How do online communities contribute towards overcoming hardship and pursuing the ‘good life’ for creative freelancers? The findings show that building solidarity amongst group members and recognising group leaders as representatives were important to mitigating the effects of the pandemic. The concept of ‘visibility’ explains how the affordances of Facebook groups both enabled and undermined solidarity and representation. The visibility of these groups and the debates on them allow potential members to easily locate and form bonds of attachment. However, visibility also produces disagreements which undermine solidarity where there is no framework for resolving them. The paper contributes the new lens of visibility to the study of solidarity building efforts.

Citation

Patrick-Thomson, H. (2023, September). The effects of visibility on solidarity: Post-pandemic online organising for the good (work) life amongst creative freelancers. Paper presented at British Academy of Management 2023 Conference, Brighton

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: British Academy of Management 2023 Conference
• Conference Location: Brighton
• Start Date: Sep 1, 2023
• End Date: Sep 6, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3518353
• Related Public URLs: https://www.bam.ac.uk/events-landing/past-conferences/bam2023-conference.html