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THE FACULTY OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS
BA (Hons) Media Production
Industry Research Project
How does the idea of ‘creative industry’ shape the concept of ‘exploitation’ such as unpaid work as a norm for individuals with creative passions? A
study based on the experience and the perception of the media students at Bournemouth University level 6.
Phachaya Methakittiworakun
Table of contents Section 1 - Introduction 3
Section 2 - Literature review 4 Understanding neoliberalism 4
What is neoliberalism? 4 Neoliberalism and everyday life 4 Neoliberalism: a critical reader 5
Understanding Cultural industries 5 Digital audiences’ disempowerment: participation or free labour 5 Dialectic of enlightenment 6 Human Actions 6 Making media workers: Contesting film and television industry career pathways 7
Understanding Marxist concept of commodification 7 (De)commodification, consumer culture, and moral economy 7 The Coming of Age of the Prosumer 8
Section 3 - Methodological approach or research method 8 Survey: level 6 Bournemouth University students 8
Research Methodology 8 Analysing the survey result (Appendix C) 9
Lessons learnt 16
Section 4 - Discussion 16 Internship as an educational tool 16 Self exploitation 17 Exploitation as a currency for a ticket up the ladder 18
Section 5 - Conclusion 19
Appendices 20 Appendix A - Research proposal 20 Appendix B - Approved ethics checklist 23 Appendix C - Survey 26
Figure C1 26 Figure C2 26 Figure C3 27 Figure C4 27 Figure C5 28
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Figure C6 28 Figure C7 29 Figure C8 29 Figure C9 30 Figure C10 30 Figure C11 31 Figure C12 31 Figure C13 32 Figure C14 32 Figure C15 33 Figure C16 33 Figure C17 34 Figure C18 34
References 35
Bibliography 36
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How does the idea of ‘creative industry’ shape the concept of ‘exploitation’ such as unpaid work as a norm for individuals with creative passions? A study based on the experience and the perception of the media students at Bournemouth University level 6.
Section 1 - Introduction Bournemouth University has a mandatory work experience in the media industry as part of the
majority of media degrees. With this in mind, students are aware that they must do whatever it
takes to get that required experience in order to graduate. That being said, are students being
exploited or do the benefits of being able to gain experience outweigh the free year loss?
The theories were selected to help us gain an understanding on previous research done in this
area, such as neoliberalism to help us look at this question from the economic point of view so
we can place the jobs that the students did and where they were exploited in the right industry,
and Marxist concept of commodification to understand the social side of this problem.
In order to better understand how students felt and how widespread this practice of free work
was, a survey was sent to Bournemouth University level six students both on a media course
and in other courses in order to better understand if this was just a problem faced by creative
individuals or was common practice across all industries, allowing for reflection creative
individual’s experiences within the media industry and whether exploitation can be considered
the norm for a media student, to the point where one can even overlook it.
From a student's perspective they may see this as just a requirement for their course, or a
stepping stone to getting a better job in the future, however, adding the value to a company for
free still could be considered exploitative.
3
Section 2 - Literature review
Understanding neoliberalism
What is neoliberalism? On a surface level, this study is a strong example that helps us understand what caused
neoliberalism to exist today. It suggests that “Neoliberalism is a revival of liberalism,” (Thorsen
and Lie 2011, p.2). Neoliberalism was identified by Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Karl
Popper, George Stigler and Ludwig von Mises as thinkers of the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947
and as a result of a growing version of liberalism caused by the “spread of global capitalism and
consumerism” (Thorsen and Lie 2011, p.2). Looking at each of the three key ideologies of
neoliberalism which are free trade, limited government control, and the raised in capitalism,
each individually helps us to better understand why media students maybe being exploited. The
idea of free trade allows more people competition from all areas of the world, some with
different standards and lower job requirements such as salary. The increase in capitalism
means that every business is only out to make as much money as possible and gaining free
labour is one way to increase profits, and finally adding limited government control to these
problems add to it even more as the people in a position to fix it are the powerful business
owners who are only interested in making a larger profit. This leaves interns with limited options
as they have to be willing to exchange their skills and effort for the market value in order to be
one step closer to living ideological lifestyle created by capitalism with a job they’re passionate
about.
Neoliberalism and everyday life To help us further understand neoliberalism , this literature described neoliberalism as a “freed
up” (Braedley and Luxton 2010, p.2) market of liberalism meaning businesses can set their own
standards causing working for free to become the norm, causing media students to feel they
have no other option other than to be exploited. This is now a part of the economy in which they
have no control over. This free work becoming the norm may even cause them to become
blinded to the fact that they are being exploited but rather they look at it as an opportunity where
they are rewarded after the exploitation process. Even though this reward is not guaranteed or
4
even given after a set timeframe and what the reward itself will be, this is an investment in order
for one to be able “to live one’s own” (McRobbie 2016, p.87) life as Angela McRobbie
mentioned in her book, Be Creative. This means that each individual is free to choose the right
options and choices for themselves, however, only ones that are strong enough to power
through with the economy will make it to that neoliberal ideology.
Neoliberalism: a critical reader “Most of the world economy remained plagued by slow growth and unemployment” (Saad-Filho
and Johnston 2005, p.9) can help us understand why media students are willing to do anything
to make themselves more employable due to the constant fear of unemployment. The “slow
growth” causing less jobs to be created while the number of people needing jobs continued to
grow adding a fear that it is not going to be an easy process because every minute there will be
a new individual with similar skills willing to work for no pay or in this context, accepting to be
exploited, further reducing the market value of media students, because the skillsets are similar
and if the company can hire two or three people without having to pay and gain a similar result,
that would be the option as they do not have to pay continuing the cycle of “restoration of the
income and wealth of the wealthiest” (Saad-Filho and Johnston 2005, p.9) where the rich
becomes richer and the ones getting there will spend their lifetime getting there, or as Adorno
and Horkheimer would describe it, it is just an excuse in the economy which was created for
everyone to accept and only few would benefit from it - the rich (Adorno and Horkheimer 1997,
p.121).
Understanding Cultural industries
Digital audiences’ disempowerment: participation or free labour This study has helped us find the justification for why interns have accepted that exploitation is
just a process to get into the industry. According to the book “these new possibilities have been
associated with the concept of “participation and ‘empowerment’ on one side, and ‘free labour’
and ‘exploitation’ on the other” (Alujević and Murru 2016, p.422). The fact that new possibilities
have been associated with participation and empowerment, one can often overlook that they are
being exploited as the reward is at the end of this short exploitation journey and that they are
they are working towards an idealism formed by neoliberalism. This looks at exploitation as an
5
investment in themselves in order for them to be able to live that life which pretty much is made
to be seen as a good life by the capitalism economy.
Dialectic of enlightenment Adorno and Horkheimer suggested that “the truth that they are just a business is made into an
ideology in order to justify the rubbish they deliberately produce,” (Adorno and Horkheimer
1997, p.121) helps us understand that people are more accepting of exploitation as. “Business
made into an ideology” as they’re turned into a an idea with this dream job at the end instead of
it just being a group of people (businesses) exploiting other people (media interns) to get rich. It
is the normalised by the media saying individuals have to go through the process of exploitation
to get a dream job in the end. However, since there are many creative individuals who are
willing to work for free and they can offer similar results to those who are paid, why would a
business want to pay when they have a choice of not having to pay. This also means that the
cycle of exploitation within the creative industry will continue until every creative individuals
stands their ground by not willing to settle for anything less than what they are worth or what the
economy thinks they are worth or the government steps in breaking the neoliberal idealisms.
Both Adorno and Horkheimer also suggests that “standards were based in the first place on
consumers’ needs, and for that reason were accepted with so little resistance,” (Adorno and
Horkheimer 1997, p.121) which clearly backs up what was mentioned previously. The idea of
“the business” says that they have to serve their customers and they can’t afford to pay people
allowing people to be more accepting of exploitation because they are doing it for the good of
the customer and not to get rich. The study however was directed at traditional media which
was movies and radios which they said “pretended” (Adorno and Horkheimer 1997, p.121) to be
art and in terms of looking at this from after the 20th century onwards, art also exist digitally and
anything that requires creativity is a form of art.
Human Actions
Ludwig von Mises’s literature in Human Action talks about how one would often do anything in
order for improvement of their conditions, “For what the individual must sacrifice for the sake of
society he is amply compensated by greater advantages. His sacrifice is only apparent and
temporary; he foregoes a smaller gain in order to reap a greater one later,” (Von Mises 1998,
p.183). This scientific theory was developed in the eighteenth-century by the social philosophy.
6
Since the cultural industries theory is the study of Frankfurt school and is something that helps
us understand the society by critically analysing it, this concept would then count as a part of the
study as it has helped us prove a point of why an individual would accept to be exploited for the
reward at the end.
Making media workers: Contesting film and television industry career pathways The study by Dr Daniel Ashton on two very specific cultural industries, film and television, show
a good example of how the cultural industry is exploiting young individuals with creative
passions who are desperate for an opportunity to work in the cultural industries and to be paid
for their efforts. In this journal, Dr Daniel Ashton conducted a very in depth research about
individuals who are trying to pursue a career in the film and television section of the cultural
industry from the beginning of their journey into the cultural industries. The journal states that
“working as a runner for around 2-3 years is a stepping-stone and a means to access higher
pay and greater responsibility,” (Ashton 2014, p.15). showing how much one has to sacrifice
above their education as even though shows their ability to perform certain tasks, 2-3 years of
experience working as a runner on minimal pay is still required.
Understanding Marxist concept of commodification
(De)commodification, consumer culture, and moral economy By looking at the studies above from the concept of neoliberalism and the concept of cultural
industries; putting the two together, and thinking about this paper’s research question, it seems
like the economy and the social aspect of this century seem to compliment each other very well.
This meaning, the business creating this ideology (neoliberalism) out of doing the creative jobs
in the cultural industries, which then lead to the jobs being a commodity as there is a high
supply of individuals who are aiming to live their life working in the cultural industries, doing
something they supposedly love and at the same time making an impact on the society in which
they share their work to. So due to the fact that this study suggests that “commodification affects
our lives most directly through employment and consumption,” (Sayer 2002, p.342), essentially
making media students a commodity meaning that if there is a low demand for media students
and a high supply their market value will go down and will continue going down until people are
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unwilling to work for the price offered, sadly the price offered has hit zero and the supply is still
here showing how normalised media students have become to this level of exploitation.
The Coming of Age of the Prosumer Although this article is not directly talking about commodification, it helps answer the question
about the jobs that have turned into a commodity in the cultural industries. The concept of a
prosumer is an individuals who are “both a producer and consumer” (Ritzer et al. 2012, p.370).
The fact that neoliberalism is shaping our world today through capitalism and turned jobs in the
cultural industries into a commodity, what has increased the level of commodity for jobs in the
creative industries are the prosumers. Individuals like prosumers are willing to work for free out
of their love for the work and ideology of being in the industry for fun and not for a living so why
would businesses hire an expensive employee when they can hire a intern who is willing to work
for free.
Section 3 - Methodological approach or research method
Survey: level 6 Bournemouth University students
Research Methodology In order gain a better understanding of this topic and try to see if the theories discussed in the
previous sections were accurate depictions of the real world, multiple research methods were
considered, such as doing a long case study of students from when they join university to
several years into the industry and a questionnaire. Both of these methods have their strengths
and weaknesses. Following students from the start of their degree until they breakthrough into
the industry, this would help give an understanding of exactly when students become accepting
of the exploitation and it would also give an indication as to whether the short term exploitation
was worth it, but a study of this magnitude would have to be applied over years on many
students to achieve any meaningful results, meaning a high cost and time both of which were
limited for this project making it not feasible. Conducting a single interview on level 6 students
8
was then considered but it still faced similar limitations of very time consuming trying to fit
interviews around everyone's schedules to yield a small dataset. A survey on the other hand
takes a small amount of time and can yield a very large dataset to analyse for correlations,
although it leaves open risks as making it anonymous protects people's identities so they can
feel safe sharing their opinion but there is no way of verifying if people are telling the truth.
After deciding upon a survey as the most viable technique for this project, it was then
considered how many surveys should be conducted and the level of detail to go to in each. One
idea that was considered was sending a different more specialised survey to students who did a
long placement and those who did a short survey, but it was felt that this could potentially limit
the the amount of data making it harder to see any meaningful results. It was also considered
that students who have previously completed the course and those who are currently looking for
a placement could also be contacted but it was a worry that people may not remember their
experiences in the past as clearly either skewing them to be overly positive or negative and the
students currently searching for a placement may not be far enough into there search to have
experienced any of the more negative issues. After considering all options it was decided that
the best solution would be best to send the same questionnaire to all level 6 students both
media and non media to increase the data set and discover if exploitation is happening and to
also discover if it is unique experience of the media industry or all students.
Analysing the survey result (Appendix C)
9
(Appendix C. Figure C3)
(Appendix C. Figure C4)
Looking at the survey and reflecting upon the theories discussed in the literature review, it is
clear students in the media industry are much more likely to consider doing an unpaid
internship. Out of the twenty students who took part in this survey (Appendix C. Figure C4),
fourteen were media students and were the only group that considered doing an unpaid
internship. The other 30% of the students who took part in this survey (Appendix C. Figure C3)
were not groups who wish to proceed for a career in the creative industries.
(Appendix C. Figure C5)
10
(Appendix C. Figure C6)
(Appendix C. Figure C10)
Looking at Appendix C figure C5 and figure C6, all students who look part in the survey did an
internship however, only 55% of which were unpaid and those who were unpaid are all in the
creative industry. Now drawing our attention to appendix C figure C10, Interestingly, students
who were paid majority of which are students from other industries and the students who are in
the cultural industries who were paid, they were paid less than minimum wage and only one
person out of everyone else that took this survey were paid more than minimum wage.
Regardless whether or not this is paid, if the pay was under minimum wage, it is still an act of
exploitation.
11
(Appendix C. Figure C11)
Looking at (Appendix C. Figure C11) how the students were able to financially support
themselves during the employment of an unpaid internship, 100% used their savings as an
investment in themselves and their future, 100% of students were also supported by parents
who saw the struggle of their child who are trying to pursue a career in the cultural industries,
and 50% had to work a part-time job alongside the unpaid employment in the creative industry
in order to make living possible whilst doing their internship. This is one good example of how
one is willing to sacrifice anything to be able to live the live making a living of a passion within
the cultural industries.
(Appendix C. Figure C12)
12
Out of all the students who were unpaid(Appendix C. Figure C12) , none of which said that they
were not happy. Realistically, if one were to be unhappy and had a choice, one would choose to
not proceed with that unhappy option. But as one has been blinded by that reward ideology, one
can always overlook the fact that they are being exploited and will do whatever it takes meet the
goal of living that life by being paid to do something that they are passionate about. Thinking
about it, several years of exploitation can lead to a lifetime of happiness of doing the things that
they love and being paid for it. But with all of that, the price to pay for that ideology created by
neoliberalism was still choosing to be exploited.
(Appendix C. Figure C8)
(Appendix C. Figure C9)
13
(Appendix C. Figure C13)
Looking at the answers to Appendix C figure C8, C9, and C13 just to prove the point that only
very few will be paid even though 90% are aware that there are those in the company that do
the same jobs as them and because they feel like they add value to the company, they deserve
to be paid. When the company pays one person it shows they value the work enough to pay
one person and not paying the other person is exploitative.
(Appendix C. Figure C15)
14
We asked (Appendix C. Figure C15) “On the scale of 1 to 10 how true is this statement? "It is
the creative industries requirement to have a reasonable amount of experience within the
industry before you can get a job that you desire and be paid for it?" (1 being untrue and 10
being true)” out of 20 student that took part in the survey, most people in the creative industry
seem to agree that the statement is true. (Appendix C. Figure 18) also shows that people they
will be competing against their peers helping us understand why they are willing to do anything
to get ahead.
(Appendix C. Figure C16)
15
(Appendix C. Figure C17)
Looking at the two questions that were asked in the survey (Appendix C. figure C16) and figure
C17) regardless the time frame of exploitation that each individual has to go through, their end
goal are something of rather high progress from where they started. Having their own
company/business and being in a high position doing something they are passionate about.
Lessons learnt Although the data received from the questionnaire showed some strong correlations towards the
hypothesis set out, the low engagement does make the results difficult to trust and may have
issues with bias of people who were less satisfied with their placements being more biased
towards filling in the questionnaire. It shows there is definitely scope for future research to be
done in this area, and could be improved by offering a reward to people who filled in the survey.
Section 4 - Discussion
Internship as an educational tool Drawing on my personal experience of undertaking a placement year at a company in Brussels
where I felt exploited. Although the company did not pay me, Erasmus+ was financially
16
supporting me as they have a scheme where students are funded if they were to do an unpaid
internship in an EU country. Although Erasmus+ helped to support me financially to a certain
extent, it still does not cover the cost to live in the city which meant I had to use my savings and
my other peers in the company were either supported by their family or had a part-time job
alongside the full-time unpaid internship. Erasmus+ was funded by the European Commission
which has lead me to think that the world that we live in today is definitely ran by neoliberalism
and has led me to agree with the literature above that neoliberalism is “The dominant ideology
shaping our world today.” (Thorsen and Lie 2011, p.abstract). In the survey for example,
students had to bite the bullet in order to improve there chances in their career. Government
definitely has limited control and only contribute to help interns to a certain extent as they
understand that this is the reality of today’s economy for young creatives. If young creatives
step back and refused to do internships because they personally cannot afford it, they may
struggle in the future as they do not have that experience required to get a graduate job causing
their studies to go to waste. Giving an advantage to those students whose parents can afford to
support them for a year, causing the richer students to get rich in the future through having more
opportunities. Since the EU Commission came up with the scheme to try allow all students to
gain an opportunity by working for less than a living wage facilitates companies to exploit
students. Some may even argue while the Erasmus+ scheme is good for allowing students from
all backgrounds to participate in these experiences it also allows companies to get away with
exploiting students as the company doesn’t need to pay for this work they need doing as the
Government will pick up the slack. It could even be argued that companies may not be trying to
exploit students and are actually trying to exploit the government instead by getting government
to pay their employees for work they need doing in the name of “experience” and education,
while inadvertently exploiting students. Perhaps the only way to solve this would be for the
governments to stop support but this could just end with students getting exploited even more
and receiving nothing for there work and giving the opportunities only to those who have the
means to be supported thus causing the rich to get richer.
Self exploitation As we have now gathered that the survey was done on both the students who are going to
proceed for a career in the cultural industry and those who are from other industries, once
asked whether or not they would consider doing an unpaid internship, only students from
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creative industries answered yes. As this was the choice of their answer, clearly there is a
reason for doing so. Reason for that being that job in the cultural industries are now a
commodity. It has created an idealism aspect of life out of it so for those who made it into the
cultural industries (Adorno and Horkheimer 1997), they will spend their life doing the job that
they love and being paid a good price for their services. As this is the aim for a lot of creative
individuals, and as Dr Ashton mentioned in his research, there is a process to take before being
paid to do a job in the creative industry (Ashton 2014) If other students in other industries are
paid on their internships, it means that media students just settle for what the cultural industry
has to offer them which then leads to them being taken advantage of and being exploited. If
they do not allow themselves to be exploited, there will be another person in line as they are
ready to do whatever it takes to receive that reward at the end. The trade between the business
and the intern is that the intern is giving the business their skills and effort as an exchange, the
intern can say that they have X amount of experience for X amount of time, eventually, that will
meet a requirement of a paying opportunity.
Exploitation as a currency for a ticket up the ladder
(Appendix C. Figure C15)
Reflecting on the survey, the literature review, and my personal experience; just like other
students in the creative industry, I have accepted to be exploited for one year whilst on
placement in Brussels in order to increase my chances of getting a better opportunity once I
18
graduate. Thinking about the heading for this section, we can look at the survey where I asked
other students about whether they think or not that the statement is true, “On the scale of 1 to
10 how true is this statement? "It is the creative industries requirement to have a reasonable
amount of experience within the industry before you can get a job that you desire and be paid
for it?" (1 being untrue and 10 being true)” for media students, it was true whereas for students
from other industries, it was a completely different story. As Adorno and Horkheimer suggested
in Dialectic of Enlightenment, that neoliberalism was created as an excuse in the economy
which was made for everyone to accept (Adorno and Horkheimer). If one doesn’t accept, then
they will lose the opportunity of living that idealism created by the economy which meant that
jobs in the cultural industries has successfully turned into a commodity. Regardless what the
future holds for these creative individuals, “the romance,” “the passionate work,” and the
“thought of living life of one’s own” will only be possible if the creative individual were to accept
exploitation as a part of the process to enter the cultural industries. Although there are no
promise about what, where or when the reward is, this is the risk as an investment that each
creative individual has to take in order to be one step closer to getting paid for doing what they
love and this has caused a creation of the economy creating a “risk class” (McRobbie 2016).
Section 5 - Conclusion There is clear evidence that this ideology was shaped together by the economy and the society
which created the term ‘neoliberalism’ which was caused from liberalism but a greater version of
it. With an increasing amount of students applying for roles in the creative industry, jobs have
turned into a rare commodity that are highly sort after with a low demand. Once the supply of
students out weights the demand for jobs by companies, anyone that could snatch that
opportunity considers themselves lucky even if there being exploited. The idea that once one
has experience in the industry, they are on a higher ladder in the industry and another step
closer to being employed and getting a decent pay. This is a clear result of the economy and the
society complimenting itself. The reason that is cycle works is because if one person stood up to
the system, there is always the next person in line reason to replace the person, unpaid.
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Appendices
Appendix A - Research proposal My research question for the Industry Research Project is “How does the idea of ‘creative
industry’ shape the concept of ‘exploitation’ such as unpaid work as a norm for individuals with
creative passions? A study based on the experience and the perception of the media students
at Bournemouth University level 6.” This question was drawn from selected keywords that
summarised my personal experience working in the creative industry for one year on
placement and my take on the experience.
At Bournemouth University, students have a choice to either do one-year placement or four
weeks work experience in the industry as a compulsory part of the degree. Although most
students are convinced that ones with long experience in the industry will have a higher chance
of getting employed after graduation hence the purpose of this being a compulsory part of the
degree there are still students with no luck on being given an opportunity that will give them
one year of experience. Once the opportunity lands on their hands, the rightful action to do is
accept the offer and everything else such as finance can work around it. Looking at this from
the grand scheme of things, it should work in the student’s favour if they were to be employed
straight after graduating, but this is not guaranteed either way. This being said, the theories
that were selected to use within this research will help us understand where the idea came
from for the students to think that those with experience will have a higher chance of getting
into employment after graduation. There must be a root of cause for everything from the
economy to the society which helped to shape the idea of this being an acceptable action. Why
do these students think that being exploited is just a process to dip their foot in the creative
industry? Is this really the price they have to pay rather than what they are able to offer to the
company and the result that they could bring to the company during their work experience?
20
Looking at this issue from a business perspective, a company would not take on someone
whether it be an employee or an intern if the person will not add value to their company. The
student taken on to the company as an intern means that the student has a chance of adding
value to the company, this being said, as the student has the same skills as the employees in
the company, meaning that they are capable of doing the same tasks and bringing the same
kind of results to the company, do students not deserved to be paid when they could bring
value?
This will focus on creative individuals specifically Level 6 BU students accepting exploitation as a
part of the industry but not internally accepting it due to the price they pay for being exploited
through unpaid work. What justification do BU Level 6 students give themselves to pursue a
career in the creative industry? What is the real issue behind the exploited feeling? Is it the
industry itself working the way that they do or is it more personal on the individual themselves
such as a class in the society that they belong to or gender?
A survey will be conducted by asking Level 6 BU students to try and gain an understanding of
their experiences in the creative industry and any cases of being exploited such as having to do
unpaid work. This can help us get an idea of whether they are there to do similar tasks to paid
employees within the company or are they there to just assist around the printer and bringing
coffee to paid employees.
I will be using the Marxist concept of commodification, Cultural Industries, and Neoliberalism to
help understand where the real issues lie for the exploitation of creative professionals such as
unpaid work within the creative industry. These theories should help us get an understanding of
what made the idea came about and what has made it okay for each individual to accept that it
is okay to be exploited. The theories were picked based on the fact that Frankfurt School’s
theory is mainly there to help us understand the society in which we live in and neoliberalism to
look at the economy of the industry. Often the economy is what shaped the society looking at
inflations as an example but is this really that case?
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The method that will be used to answer this research question is by applying the three theories
mentioned above to the student’s answers from the survey. The survey will be crafted based on
my understanding of the theories and see whether or not the answers that the student give
align to the theories. Without specifying the meaning of creative industry, what exactly is
‘creative industry’ to the student and how are they going to justify their reasons with how they
really feel for being exploited in exchange for an experience in the ‘creative industry’.
This is the aim for the research workflow:
Week 1 - Putting the survey together based on my understanding of theories and the
information I feel will best help answer the question.
Week 2 - Sending out the survey to Level 6 Bournemouth University students with work
experience in the media industry.
Week 3 - Studying the results of the survey and the theories together to see what conclusion it
draws.
Final week - Putting the research together for the submission date for the 9th January 2019.
The research question is based on an everyday issue that occurs in the creative industry and it is
ethically appropriate to research into this topic as the survey will ask each Bournemouth
University students Level 6 to answer the survey based on their truthful real experience.
The outcome of this research should help us understand why individuals feel exploited the way
they do within the creative industry and it should also help us understand where these
thoughts and ideas came from to make the students think that this manner in the economy is
acceptable.
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Appendix B - Approved ethics checklist
23
24
25
Appendix C - Survey
Figure C1
Figure C2
26
Figure C3
Figure C4
27
Figure C5
Figure C6
28
Figure C7
Figure C8
29
Figure C9
Figure C10
30
Figure C11
Figure C12
31
Figure C13
Figure C14
32
Figure C15
Figure C16
33
Figure C17
Figure C18
34
References Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M., 1997. Dialectic of enlightenment. New York: Herder & Herder.
Alujević, L. and Murru, M., 2016. Digital audiences’ disempowerment: participation or free labour. Journal
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Ashton, D., 2014. Making Media Workers. Television & New Media, 16 (3), 275-294.
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