ACCESS Seminar: Craft labour, entrepreneurialism and social class in contemporary Australia


Abstract

For many contemporary craftspeople in neoliberalised economies such as Australia, the commitment to labour in craft as a paid occupation is often framed as a political decision. Craft practice – both artisanal and industrial – is routinely hailed as act of resistance to capitalism, aligning instead with ethical values and environmental sustainability. But the uncomfortable reality is that, try as we might, it is virtually impossible to avoid the social and economic systems within which we are embedded. This, in part, is what makes the ethical commitment to craft a complex and often compromised path for practitioners. In the present ‘gig-economy’ employment context, to undertake paid work as a craft practitioner often entails becoming a sole-trader or a small-business owner, as there are few paid roles for craftspeople as employees. There are social class and solidarity implications to this pattern. Taking this tension as a starting point, this paper treads – lightly I hope – into some uncomfortable spaces for contemporary craftspeople. Here I have two objectives. The first is to stimulate more candid conversations about how contemporary craftspeople wrestle with the political-economic complexities that accompany neoliberal economic relations. Second, I argue that it is important to (re)situate craftspeople’s struggle in the relational and economic context of social class, and particularly to consider the category of the petty bourgeoisie. This class location prompts some further questions. For instance: how do the concepts of individualism, entrepreneurialism and solidarity figure in contemporary craftspeople’s labour practices? Where do contemporary craftspeople’s class interests lie? How might craftspeople’s personal politics map awkwardly into existing conceptions of the petty bourgeoisie? If craftspeople’s interests have become individualised, what other possibilities might there be for collective organisation?

BiographyDr Jesse Adams Stein

Stein is an interdisciplinary design researcher focusing on technology, labour and material culture, from the 1980s to present. Her research explores less popular and hidden sides of design, such as industrial craft, repair, small-scale manufacturing and human labour. Stein is the author of Hot Metal (Manchester 2016) and Industrial Craft in Australia (Palgrave 2021). With Dr Chantel Carr, Stein was founder and organiser of the interdisciplinary 2023 symposium All Hands on Deck, which led to the development of two scholarly book collections (edited with Carr), Designing through Planetary Breakdown and Working through Planetary Breakdown (both Routledge, due 2025). Stein is deeply involved in the Australian history sector, as an oral historian, as Vice President of the History Council of NSW, and as 2024 Program Director of the public series History Now.