CMS Spring Colloquia Series: Invisible work, invisible workers, and the work of care

Speaker: Dr. Kirstie McAllum, Université de Montréal

Invisible work, invisible workers, and the work of care

Most research on invisible work treats invisibility as a threat to workers’ personal dignity and an obstacle to obtaining appropriate rewards and recognition, especially when labor is un(der)paid, occurs back-stage, and tasks are devalued or stigmatized. Such work usually conceptualizes invisibility as an attribute associated with specific types of jobs (e.g., caregiving for older adults who are losing their autonomy, cleaning, or domestic work), spaces (e.g., home), or categories of workers (e.g., women, immigrants). In this talk, I propose that viewing invisibility as a performance rather than an attribute allows us to analyze how and when workers make their work in/visible to different audiences. Using examples from three projects on the work of care, I assess the consequences of these choices for care organizing, collective resilience, external support, and occupational prestige.

Kirstie McAllum (PhD in organizational communication, University of Waikato, New Zealand) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the Université de Montréal, Canada and a regular research member of the Centre for Research and Expertise in Social Gerontology in Montreal. Her research focuses on the meanings of non-standard work, the communicative patterns of collaboration and conflict, and care organizing in multiple health and social care contexts.

3/25, 1pm – 2:15pm, in CMA 3.116