Making Television: Scholarship’s response to the shifting landscape of television labour in the 21st Century

Conference: Critical Studies in Television

Dates: 09/07/2025

Publication Date: 09/07/2025

Abstract:

Making Television: Scholarship’s response to the shifting landscape of television labour in the 21st Century A significant development over the past 20 years in television studies has been the increased critical interest in television work – and television workers. The question of who contributes to the manufacture of cultural artefacts, and how their contribution impacts the nature of those artefacts is at the centre of the relatively new discipline of production studies, which turns the lens of cultural studies on the ‘cultures’ operating behind our screens. In the very first issue of CST Máire Messenger Davies highlighted this as an area neglected in television studies (in contrast with film studies), citing the 1980s work of Todd Gitlin and John Tulloch as exceptions. She might also have noted the increasing interest in this area from scholars of sociology, anthropology, management studies, organisational studies and cultural policy. Notable examples of such work at the time would include that of Gillian Ursell (eg 2000) and John Caldwell (2006), while the next few years saw the publication of further research by scholars as diverse as Irene Grugulis (2009), Viki Mayer (2011) and David Lee (2011), while Keith Randle (2007), among others., introduced a focus on the lack of equity, diversity and inclusivity in the industry. This latter focus has, in the past ten years, become a particular concern to scholars, along with the issue of poor working conditions, with work by Anne O’Brien (2014), Miranda Banks (2018), Doris Eiikhof and Jack Newsinger (2020) and van Raalte et al representing only a small sample. Meanwhile the world of television work itself continues to change, in response to factors including technical innovations, globalised markets and an increasingly casualised workforce. The UK industry in particular finds itself under threat at the current time, not only from a downturn in commissioning but from inbuilt weaknesses including an over-reliance on ‘freelance’ labour; a lack of investment in skills, and the informal recruitment practices that continue to undermine its attempts to address workforce diversity.

CST’s engagement with this aspect of television studies, however, has remained relatively limited. This paper will argue for a renewed focus on the making of television alongside the excellent work on texts and audiences for which the journal is known.

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