Processes of Differentiation and Fragmentation within: South African Textile Designers
Bonnin, Debby (University of Pretoria)
Maestripieri, Lara, ed. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Publicación:	Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2023
Resumen:	In South Africa, textile design used to be widely acknowledged as an expert occupation. After earning a recognised qualification, graduates found full-time, secure employment with good conditions in the thriving textile industry. This chapter examines how the economic and labour market challenges of globalisation and new technologies turned this story of "good jobs" on its head. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews, primarily with textile designers, it explores their different working experiences. They talk of increasing fragmentation, with four segments emerging. First are those who remained employed within organisations, despite finding their autonomy and professional status diminished. Second are those who also remained in organisations but used their professional knowledge and status to create new jobs for themselves. Third are those who left organisations and moved into freelancing and contract work; many of them found this existence precarious and insecure, but a few were quite successful. Fourth are designers who became self-employed in the online economy, again with variable outcomes: some were extremely successful, while others encountered continued precarity and marginalisation. This chapter contributes to the within dimension of professionalism as it demonstrates differentiation and fragmentation within what previously used to be a homogeneous expert occupation.
Derechos:	Tots els drets reservats.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Capítol de llibre ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Materia:	Textile designers ; Situated professionalism ; Professionalism ; Heterogeneity ; New technologies
Publicado en:	Professionalism and Social Change. Processes of Differentiation Within, Between and Beyond Professions, 2023, p. 59-80, ISBN 978-3-031-31278-6

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-31278-6_3

Disponible a partir de: 2025-08-05 Post-print

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