Expendable yet essential; restaurant labor, class, and the ongoing need to cope
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Advisor
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Swarthmore College. Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology
Type
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
en
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
No restrictions
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
This study documents and analyzes the shifting labor conditions in the restaurant industry to understand how the industry has changed in the context of the pandemic. In combining theoretical frameworks with autoethnographic research and comprehensive qualitative interviews, this thesis illuminates what restaurant workers experience daily, in and out of the pandemic, and how they survive these conditions. In utilizing a class analysis supported by Marxist theoretical perspectives, this thesis begins to unpack the restaurant industry’s context within the larger economy. This thesis centralizes the voices of current and previous restaurant workers as a primary source of knowledge and expertise on the subject because far too often, the working class is overlooked as a source of knowledge; the interviewees are the basis for this thesis. The restaurant industry is an understudied and overlooked industry that should have more traction. This thesis serves as a foundation to study the industry more deeply – there is so much to learn.