SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Mehmet Eryılmaz (Uludag University) GROUP LEADER (mehmetery@uludag.edu.tr)
Sven Packmohr (Malmö University) GROUP LEADER (sven.packmohr@mau.se)
Hasan Boztoprak (Beykent University) GROUP LEADER (hasanboztoprak@beykent.edu.tr)

GT02_00 Blue and Grey Collar Workers in the Context of Digital Transformation in Organizations

As humanity, we experience the digital age. This digital storm affects every points of our societies. The organizations as crucial actors are also not exceptional. There has been an exponential growth in use of the digital technologies in organizations and this situation has absolutely deep impacts on the organizations. During the recent years, this fact has triggerred the number of scholary studies on digitalization in the organizations. However, many previous studies examined the digitalization processes of organizations from the perspective of the white-collars of organizations and only a few studies have focused on blue and grey-collar staffs in the context of digitalization. In addition, the majority of these studies have mainly discussed and investigated the possible unemployment threats that can be created by digital technologies such as robots, AIs etc. Therefore, the aim of this track is to enrich our perspectives and knowledge about social, psychological, economic and other effects of the digital revolution on blue and grey-collars in the organizations with the various lenses of “Management and Organization (MO)” field. For this aim, we invite the scholars to submit their papers linking “Organization Theory (OT)”, “Strategic Management (SM)”, “Organizational Behavior (OB)” and/or “Human Resources Management (HRM)” with digitalization of the organizations in the context of blue and grey-collar workers. We primarily encourage the empirical studies due to their stronger potentials to improve our understandings on the phenomenon of digitalization in the context of blue and grey-collars. However, the non-empirical studies that have a sound theoretical ground are also welcomed. Finally, a secondary aim of this track is to increase awareness of the scholars about their colleagues who share the same interests with them.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Tülay İlhan Nas (Karadeniz Technical University) GROUP LEADER (tulayilhan@yahoo.com)
Burçin Yılmaz Eser (Karadeniz Technical University) GROUP LEADER (burcin@ktu.edu.tr)

GT03_00 Impact of Digitalization on the Blue and Grey Collar Workers: Gig Economy / Platform Economy

Since the beginning of the 21st century, a significant transformation has started in the labor market with digital technology which has penetrated the economic and social field. In parallel with the rapid progress in information and communication technologies, internet-based business models with computers and smart phones have become widespread. In this context, the number of people who work independently of time and place and earn income through digital platforms has gradually increased. In this new order, which is generally called the “GIG economy”, there is a new system managed through platforms that act as intermediaries between customers and employees. The prominent works of this system are blue-collar and gray-collar jobs made by unskilled, low-skilled or semi-skilled workers. While the GIG economy expresses freedom and entrepreneurship for employees, it also brings with it a series of problems such as insecurity, reduction in wages and social rights. Is the gig economy an opportunity or a trap for workers? In related literature, there are important gaps such as GIG workers, unionization, (in)security, social rights, gender and legal arrangements. In this context, the purpose of this SIG is to discuss the GIG economy, which gains importance day by day as a new approach in the traditional structure of the workplace, both theoretically and in terms of problems of the employees and offer solutions.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Ayşın Pasamehmetoglu (Ozyegin University) GROUP LEADER (aysin.pmoglu@ozyegin.edu.tr)
Priyanko Guchait (University of Houston) GROUP LEADER (pguchait@uh.edu)

GT04_00 Error Management and Service Recovery Performance

An error management culture involves organizational practices related to communication about errors, sharing error knowledge, quickly detecting and handling errors. Purpose of this topic is to critise how blue and grey collar workers handle errors and engage in service recovery performance

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Vala Lale Tüzüner (Istanbul University) GROUP LEADER (ltuzun@istanbul.edu.tr)

GT05_00 Blue&Grey Collar Workers in Postpandemic World: Past, Current and Future Challenges

One of the main challenges that blue&gray-collar workers face from the past to the present is that they work long hours and are paid relatively low wages for this work. Another of the biggest and oldest challenges for blue&gray-collar workers is the difficulties they face in finding the job they want to work. Job platforms are often designed for white-collar workers and are often used by white-collar workers. It is often seen that blue&gray-collar workers do not even reach this job platform or use the platform according to their purpose .When the most well-known job search platforms (kariyer.net) were examined, it was seen that only 7,433 of the approximately 40,872 job advertisements were created for blue&gray-collar employees. Blue&gray-collar workers are subject to high commission payments when they receive support from middlemen at the point of employment. This is another of the challenges. Blue&gray-collar workers often have difficulty establishing work life balance because they work shifts and long hours. When the occupational accident figures are examined, it is seen that blue&gray-collar workers are exposed to more occupational accidents than white-collar workers. In Turkey, 98.076 people in 150 companies were surveyed on “Occupational accidents and occupational diseases” in a three-month period. According to this survey, 7.7 percent of blue-collar employees and 0.5 percent of white-collar employees had an occupational accident. Health problems were added to these challenges for blue&gray-collar workers during the pandemic period. During this period, when white-collar workers had the opportunity to work from home, blue&gray-collar workers continued to go to work in order to avoid disruption of production and so on. This situation has increased the risk of these employees catching COVID-19 disease compared to other employees. On the other hand Technological changes destroy some jobs (especially blue&gray collar workers jobs). Digitalized and connected processes will have great impact on labour market resulting in mass unemployment.. This means that blue&gray-collar workers will have more difficulties finding work. On the other hand, there are opposing opinions that this is a huge advantage for blue-gray collar jobs. For example, the gig economy is shown as a way out of this difficulty. Because when digitalization is combined with the pandemic, companies have also turned to flexible and on-demand work rather than full-time working styles.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Güray Küçükkocaoğlu (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (gurayk@baskent.edu.tr)

GT06_00 Blue Collar vs. White Collar Workers in Finance Industry

Redefining the Blue Collar and White Collar Workers of Finance Industry

Although it is accepted that the finance industry consists of white-collar workers, we have to accept the fact that this is not the case anymore. An industry that technically defines itself as white-collar, is becoming blue-collar. To investigate the fact that why professionals of this industry is transforming from white collar to blue-collar? We should start thinking about the fact that machine learning based algorithms are becoming the white collars of the industry. Alas people who do recruit investors to these algorithms’ talents are becoming the blue-collar workers of the industry.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Yonca Deniz Gürol (Yıldız Technical University) GROUP LEADER (gurol@yildiz.edu.tr)
Amina Omrane (University of Sfax) GROUP LEADER ( amina.omrane@yahoo.fr )
Pınar Akıncı Acar (Beykoz University) GROUP MEMBER (pinaracar@beykoz.edu.tr)
Tuğba Karaboğa (Yıldız Technical University) GROUP MEMBER (hidirlar@yildiz.edu.tr)
Perlin Naz Cömert (Yıldız Technical University) GROUP MEMBER (perlincomert@gmail.com)

GT07_00 Blue-Collar Women with a Focus on Gender Equality

It is observed that the number of studies related to gender inequality among blue-collar workers; specifically family obligations, work-life conflict, working conditions and wage inequality of blue-collar female employees is insufficient. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research on the perception of glass ceiling among blue-collar workers. In particular, with the Covid-19 outbreak, the pressure and burden on women has increased. Due to the epidemic, women are 24% more likely to lose their job than men and spend 3 times more time on domestic  work than men (United Nations, 2020; Dang and Nguyen, 2021). Even if the COVID-19 crisis is experienced strongly in many industries and occupations, it has particularly affected blue-collar women in terms of managing their paid jobs and household responsibilities (OECD, 2021). Moreover, in order for blue-collar women to obtain decent employment opportunities, their digital skills need to be developed. In this context, there is a need for studies that provide solutions to these problems, investigate these issues in depth and enable the development of theories in this field. This strategic interest group aims to enrich the literature on all these problems covered under the name Blue-Collar Women with a Focus on Gender Equality.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Mustafa Sagsan (Cyprus International University) GROUP LEADER (msagsan@ciu.edu.tr)

GT08_00 How to Commit Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) to the White/Grey/Blue Collar Workers Categorization?

The position called Cheif Knowledge Officer (CKO) in organization is always confused by Cheif Information Officer (CIO) in the KM literature. The aim of this track is to clearly identify the job analysis of CKO as well as categorize the position from the collar (either blue or grey/white) perspectives.

Scope

Identity construction of blue-collar workers SIG welcomes the studies investigating all aspects of the topic both theoretically and empirically. Identity construction, re-construction, and regulation of blue-collar workers are discussed based on the main arguments of Social Identity Theory and Self–Categorization Theory.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Bilçin Meydan, Uludag Unversity, btak@uludag.edu.tr, SIG Chair
Lale Tüzüner , Istanbul University, ltuzun@istanbul.edu.tr
Serpil Aytaç, Fenerbahçe University, serpilaytac@fbu.edu.tr
M. Berkay Aydın, Uludag University, berkayaydin@uludag.edı.tr
Ezgi Yildirim Saatci, KeysNLinks.Ltd.UK Director, ezgi-yildirim@hotmail.com

SIG.09. 00. Identity Construction of Blue-Collar Workers General Track

The general track focuses on (i) the theoretical background of social identity, (ii) why blue-collar workers need to derive additional identities from their membership to any groups and organizations besides their personal identity, (iii) which identity formation and regulation processes and strategies are used by organizations, (iv) if there are any specific aspects of social identity for the national institutional context and so on.

Lale Tüzüner , Istanbul University, ltuzun@istanbul.edu.tr

Identity Construction Of Blue-Collar Workers Standing Tracks

ST.09.01. Social Mobility: Is Upward Mobility Possible or Just a dream for The Blue/Gray -Collar Workers?

 This track focuses on answering the questions of (i) whether upward social mobility opportunities are available for the blue-collar workers intra-generationally and /or inter-generationally, (ii) if there is any empirical evidence showing which strategies are used by the blue-collar workers in the organizational context; (iii) which contextual and individual level factors have an impact on the upward mobility processes, and (iv) what outcomes may emerge depending on the social mobility strategies adopted by the workers. Case studies are also expected to be presented in this track.

Berkay Aydın, Uludag University , berkayaydin@uludag.edu.tr

ST.09.02 . Union Membership as a Source Of Social Identity For Blue- Collar Workers 

In the third track, one is expected to discuss union membership as a source of social identity for blue-collar workers both theoretically and empirically by asking (i) whether union membership provides the blue-collar workers with high status to, (ii) which features they attribute to unionized blue-workers category they belong to, (iii) how they compared themselves with the other organization members who are not the member of the union and those with white-collar status, (iv) if there is any polarization between them and  ‘the others’, (v)whether they also derive a political identity by being a member of a special union in the Turkish and any other national context and if there is any specific aspect of our national context and so on.

Serpil Aytac, Fenerbahce University, serpilaytac@fbu.edu.tr

ST.09.03. Organizational Membership as a Source of Social Identity for Blue/Gray- Collar Workers

The last track analyzes if organizational membership is a source of social identity for the blue-collar workers by investigating (i) how organizational identity and culture, which is advised to be assessed based on tenured white-collar employees’ opinions or perceptions about the organization in the person-organization fit literature, is viewed by blue-collar workers, (ii) whether blue-collar workers derive a social identity from being a member of the organization they work for, (iii) whether and how they perceive the managerial purposive efforts to construct and regulate blue-collar workers identities and so on.

Ezgi Yildirim Saatci, KeysNLinks.Ltd.UK Director, ezgi-yildirim@hotmail.com

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Demet Varoğlu (TOBB ETU University) GROUP LEADER (dvaroglu@etu.edu.tr)
Ayşın Paşamehmetoğlu (Ozyegin University) GROUP MEMBER (aysin.pmoglu@ozyegin.edu.tr)
Feride Pınar Acar (Middle East Technical University) GROUP MEMBER (pacar@metu.edu.tr)
Yonca Deniz Gürol (Yıldız Technical University) GROUP MEMBER (gurol@yildiz.edu.tr)
Zuhal Şenyuva (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (zuhala@baskent.edu.tr)

GT10_00 Diversity and Discrimination of Blue- and Grey-Collar Employees

When it comes to diversity, we have come to know that it brings richness of ideas and perspectives which then translate into, if not innovative, better products and services. However, reaching the benefits of diversity is not that easy, because managing a diverse workforce is more complicated than managing a homogeneous workforce. One major complication of diversity is discrimination, because of various stereotypes that managers and co-workers have against each other with respect to various dimensions of diversity. Compared to management teams, diversity seems to be found more among the operatives who are mostly blue- and grey-collar employees. As it was pointed out earlier, diversity has a number of dimensions. Therefore, we should find answers to questions like these: When it comes to discrimination, which dimensions of diversity are shown more sensitivity by managers and co-workers? Which dimensions of diversity do not become an issue of discrimination? What kind of attitudes, perceptions and behaviors do blue- and grey-collar employees have with respect to discrimination?.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Fatih Çetin (Nigde Omer Halisdemir University) GROUP LEADER (fcetin@ohu.edu.tr)
Faruk Şahin (Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University) GROUP LEADER (faruksahin@mu.edu.tr)
Joanna Paliszkiewicz (Warsaw University) GROUP MEMBER (joanna_paliszkiewicz @ sggw.edu.pl )
Hamdullah Nejat Basım (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (nbasim@baskent.edu.tr)

GT11_00 Challenges of Leadership and Motivation in Blue-Collar Employees

Blue-collar employees are viewed as replaceable members of an organization instead of viewing them as valuable assets to the organization. The general problem to be addressed was poor leadership of blue-collar employees, resulting in a lack of employee motivation, high levels of employee dissatisfaction, and high levels of turnover within the organizational setting. Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Because of the strong influence of leadership on followers and organizational processes, leadership can play a critical role not only in relating to goal achievement and efficiency but also regarding employee motivation, job satisfaction, and employee turnover. Although studies suggest that people in all levels of work and jobs can find meaningfulness in their work, blue-collar employees generally view their work as just a means of income. The specific problem to be addressed may be the poor leadership of blue-collar workers in organizations, resulting in high turnover, low motivation, and high employee dissatisfaction. While several leadership theories can apply to blue-collar settings, the lack of understanding of the blue-collar worker’s needs and personal feelings towards leadership differ from that of the white-collar workers and leadership may not always realize this. The purpose of this group is to explore the leadership and motivational context and dynamics of blue-collar employees with the associated antecedents and outcomes.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Bahar Araz (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (bahararaz@baskent.edu.tr)
İpek Kalemci Tüzün (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (tuzun@baskent.edu.tr)
Onur Sunal (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (osunal@baskent.edu.tr)

GT12_00 Emergence and Evolution Process of Collars

The question of the nature of the collar is pursued drawing on results generated in the field of social ontology as well as on observations from history. In this paper, it can be tried to seek what the nature of collar is, this is a central question for social theory, not least economics and human resources.

Contributors concerned with the opening question have tended to putative of forms and/or colors of collar and their histories. In consequence, debates over the nature of collar have tended to be bound up with competing accounts of collar’s emergence..

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Hakkı Okan Yeloğlu (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (okany@baskent.edu.tr)
Nataša Rupčić (Rijeka University) GROUP MEMBER (natasa.rupcic@efri.hr)

GT13_00 Methodologıcal Issues in Blue & Grey Worker Studies

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Menderes Çınar (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (mcinar@baskent.edu.tr)
Erdem Damar (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (edamar@baskent.edu.tr)
Şebnem Oğuz

GT14_00 The Impact of Pandemic Conditions on the Mobilization of Blue Collar Workers in the (Post-)Pandemic Era

Over the past 2 years, the Covid-19 pandemic conditions have had severe impacts on global economy. At the national and local scales, administrations have implemented varying measures and precautions to cope with the pandemic conditions. Especially the precautions such as partial or full closures of shops and restaurants increased the burden of the low-income groups such as blue-collar workers working at the service sector and small retailer groups such as shopkeepers. At the site of production, the pandemic conditions have led to the emergence of a more complex scenario. In some cases, blue-collar workers have been implicitly forced to work in rotation, which eventually made severe impact on their salaries that were already controversial in terms of subsistence. In other cases, they had to work under difficult conditions with overloaded extra working hours and in environments that were not safe to protect themselves from the Covid-19.

Concomitant with this, national administrations, company and factory managements encountered challenging social responses in various forms at the local and national levels. What seems to be even more interesting in terms of social and political analysis is the continuation of these challenging responses in the so-called post-pandemic era. In countries such as Turkey, Canada, the United States, and France, the mobilization of low-income groups and blue-collar works are still going on even though administrations to a certain extent loosened the pandemic precautions. The organized strikes of motorcycle couriers in Turkey and truck drivers in Canada as well as the ongoing strike of the blue-collar workers of Turkey’s one of the largest supermarket chain reveal that the impacts of pandemic conditions will have significant effects on the post-pandemic context as well.

On that basis, this SIG welcomes theoretical and empirical research papers that elaborate on the impact of the pandemic conditions on the mobilization of blue collar works in the post-pandemic era from social and political perspectives. What impacts does pandemic context make on the mobilization of blue-collar workers? Why does the initiation of economic recovery and normalization of economic life fail to meet the demands and expectations of blue-collar workers? Does (post-)pandemic conditions facilitate or make it more difficult for organized mobilizations among labourers? Are there possibilities to expect more reconciling economic policies that take labourers’ voices into account? Or, in contrast, shall we expect the rigidification of economic measures on the basis of even further exclusion of workers from economic decision-making processes? Do pandemic conditions make constitutive impact on the emergence of new types of organized and collective mobilization techniques or strategies? What are the prospects and challenges, if there are any, for the making of a more equal and just economic system in favour of blue-collar workers and other low-income groups at the local, national and global registers? Within that scope, this SIG aims to contribute to scholarly dialogues and interactions around these and similar questions which could be approached from comparative, international, national, local or theoretical perspectives.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Güray Küçükkocaoğlu (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (gurayk@baskent.edu.tr)
Nildağ Başak Ceylan (Yıldırım Beyazıt University) GROUP MEMBER (nbceylan@ybu.edu.tr)
Ayhan Kapusuzoğlu (Yıldırım Beyazıt University) GROUP MEMBER (akapusuzoglu@ybu.edu.tr)
Mehmet Mete Doğanay (Çankaya University) GROUP MEMBER (mdoganay@cankaya.edu.tr)
Ekin Tokat (TOBB Ekonomi ve Teknoloji University) GROUP MEMBER (etokat@etu.edu.tr)
Turhan Korkmaz (Mersin University) GROUP MEMBER (tkorkmaz@mersin.edu.tr)

GT15_00 Blue Collar vs. White Collar Workers in Finance Industry

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Cenk Sözen (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (csozen@baskent.edu.tr)
Amer Al-Atwi  (Al-Muthanna University) GROUP LEADER (amer@mu.edu.tiq)
Meral Kızrak (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (mkizrak @baskent.edu.tr)
Erdem Kırkbeşoğlu (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (erdemk@baskent.edu.tr)
Ahmet Akmermer (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (akmermer@baskent.edu.tr)

GT16_00 Organizational Networks of Blue & Grey Collar Workers

Studies on organizational networks have significantly increased during the last decade. Examining multi-level interactions among actors has made important contributions to understanding the relational dynamics in organizations and economies. We think that exploring both positive and/or negative interactional patterns of blue & grey collar workers is especially important due to possible cohesive nature of these groups.  For example, factories or mines which are located near urban areas generally hire local community members who may have close familial ties with each other.  In these cases, well known management techniques and tools which are based on individualistic motives of the employees may not work because dense social relations in these types of groups can lead to undesirable outcomes such as strikes or slowdowns. In addition, the relationships of these groups of workers with the unions, political parties, local authorities, government, and rival organizations is another aspect that deserves in depth consideration.

This SIG aims at developing theoretical and empirical studies on social network studies on two different levels. Intraorganizational level studies on the analyses of positive and negative ties to reveal interaction patterns specifically for blue & grey collar employees are invited to the SIG. Adopting a hybrid methodological approach by combining network analyses with behavioral variables such as intention to leave, job satisfaction, commitment, perceived organizational support and perceived conflict is another integral part of studies on intraorganizational networks. Interorganizational level studies should examine the external ties with the other organizations -unions, sport clubs, occupational associations, political parties, etc-  that may have direct or indirect influences on blue & grey collar workers.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Abdulkadir Varoğlu (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER (kvaroglu@baskent.edu.tr )
Soner Gökten (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER ( sgokten@baskent.edu.tr)
Burak Özdoğan (Celal Bayar University) GROUP MEMBER (burak.ozdogan@cbu.edu.tr )
Ümmühan Aslan (Bilecik Seyh Edebali University) GROUP MEMBER (ummuhan.aslan @bilecik.edu.tr)
Pınar Okan Gökten (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University) GROUP MEMBER (pinar.okan@hbv.edu.tr)
Devrim Danyal ( Devrim Danyal Blockchain & Kriptopara Teknoloji Eğitim Akademi) GROUP MEMBER
Türker Açıkgöz (Başkent University) GROUP MEMBER (tacikgoz@baskent.edu.tr)
Sant Manukyan (İş Yatırım) GROUP MEMBER
Ebru Güven (İstanbul Blockchain Woman Derneği) GROUP MEMBER
Ayfer Aksu (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER
Güler Koçak (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER

GT17_00 New Work and Worker Paradigms in the Blockchain and Digital Universe “Metaverse” Ecosystem

Right after the 2008 crisis, the world met with a new currency “claim” called Bitcoin, as the trust in traditional financial institutions and instruments was shaken. The main purpose of Bitcoin was to assign the role of “trust” underlying the financial system to the algorithm by taking from institutions that have proven their failure many times before. In the period from 2009 to the present, Bitcoin has opened the door of algorithmic trust and an born-digital financial system and provided the formation of an ecosystem.

As a result of a set of technologies that we call blockchain today, we have the infrastructure to create and store data in a decentralized way. This infrastructure has digitized money first and then ownership rights along with financial applications thanks to smart contracts. As a result, the digital universe or the popularly known metaverse, which has emerged as an increasingly powerful alternative in recent years, has the ability to open the door to new paradigms not only in terms of social life, but also in terms of business and organization. This new paradigm perspective has allowed the emergence of a number of new workplaces and early traces of employees. New generation titles such as digital fashion designers, metahuman doctors, metaverse tour guides, and digital universe architects appear as the first representatives of these workers. For this new working class, traditional education diplomas and specialties are losing their validity, and the competency set is shaped by the needs of the new owners of the digital universe.

The aim of this group is to draw a futuristic perspective of the future of new jobs and working classes emerging from the perspective of blockchain technologies and the metaverse digital universe, and to open up the issues around it for discussion.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Fatma Pakdil (Eastern Connecticut University) GROUP LEADER (pakdilf@eastern.edu)
Niti Pandey (Eastern Connecticut University) GROUP LEADER (pandeyn@eastern.edu)

GT18_00 Healthcare Work

To highlight the work and labor of workers in the healthcare industry. Management research often focuses on the work of white collar healthcare workers. This SIG would seek research and ideas on how to examine blue and grey collar workers in the healthcare industry.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Emek Barış Kepenek (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER ( ebkepenek@baskent.edu)
Çiçek Çoşkun (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (  ccoskun@baskent.edu.tr)
Onur Bilginer (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (obilginer@baskent.edu.tr )
Osman Özarslan (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (osmanozarslan @baskent.edu.tr)

GT19_00 Different Labour Market Prospects in Contemporary Society

Life is changing. Technology has been developed continously. Huge socio- economic transformations have chaged the profile of workers. In this SIG, the colleagues will discuss different types of labour in market, specifically digital transformations of labour will be discussed.

SIG OFFICERS (2022)

Şebnem Pala Güzel (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER ( sebnempa@baskent.edu)
Deniz Tansel İlic (Baskent University) GROUP LEADER ( tanseld@baskent.edu)
Özcan Yağcı (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (  oyagci@baskent.edu.tr)
Sevil Bal (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (sbal@baskent.edu.tr )
Kübra Canlı (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (kubracanli@baskent.edu.tr)
Semra Ay (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (semraay@baskent.edu.tr)
Naz Önen (Baskent University) GROUP MEMBER (nazonen@baskent.edu.tr)

GT20_00 Creative Labour, Class and Medıa in the Capitalocene

It can be argued that we are living in an epoch of Capitalocene when the accelerating pace of digitally driven market place has caused unconventional working environment in many sectors, media and creative ones, in particular. This is resulted by the emergence of new forms of work and work arrangements for individual or collective creative expressions. Also, the fluid scapes of creative work has become ambiguous and precarious with inadequate social protection, low labour standards and unstable working conditions. Academics, designers, artists, illustrators, actors, journalists, photographers, advertisers, architects, musicians, sculptors, who make up the overall labour force of creative sectors, salaried or free-lance, have blurred the boundaries in labour and class distinctions. Hence, as for workplace dynamics regarding creativity, collaboration, exploitation, has undergone drastic changes, it has become intricate to demarcate the boundaries of classification and designation, the one made on collar colour, in particular.

Accordingly, the all-inclusive target and preoccupation of this SIG will be examining and scrutinizing the conceptual and theoretical framework of the creative labour and class within the interfaces of media, technology and management. How the ethos of creative production transformed in relation to the architecture of the market? How working conditions on creative labour surroundings are regulated vis- à- vis freedom of artistic expression? Has creative labour become the locus of a new creative class other than grey or white collars? Above all designations, has creative labour gained its own momentum in the Capitalocene epoch? What are the reflections of salaried or free-lance creative labourers about the class designations by collar colour?

Thus, this SIG welcomes research papers that consider creative labour with particular interest in explorations of theories and methods that are likely to evaluate aspects of creative labour and class beyond conventional research design and conduct.