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An Ageless Gift: Reciprocity and Value Creation By and For Older Workers

Author

Listed:
  • Barbara Foweraker

    (Independent Researcher)

  • Leanne Cutcher

    (University of Sydney Business School, Australia)

Abstract

Much of the extant literature views older workers through the lenses of human capital theory or ageism and age discrimination, both of which emphasise older workers’ value deficit. Using the case of a company that employs older workers, this article explores how ongoing exchanges between the organisation, its employees and its customers create three inter-related types of value: surplus value, staging value and accrual value. The organisation extracts surplus value by employing an older workforce who, grateful for employment during older age, reciprocate by drawing on embodied social capital to gift staging value, which sees customers reciprocate by endorsing the organisation’s products. Employment in this case is viewed as extending beyond pure commodity exchange to incorporate elements of gift exchange. The ongoing interaction and exchange with others through their work is the means by which the employees attach accrual value to themselves, thereby reproducing the good and proper ageing subject.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara Foweraker & Leanne Cutcher, 2020. "An Ageless Gift: Reciprocity and Value Creation By and For Older Workers," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(4), pages 533-549, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:4:p:533-549
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017019841521
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Avner Offer, 1997. "Between the gift and the market: the economy of regard," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 50(3), pages 450-476, August.
    2. Ian Roberts, 2006. "Taking age out of the workplace: putting older workers back in?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(1), pages 67-86, March.
    3. Tim Strangleman, 2004. "Work Identity at the End of the Line?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-51385-3.
    4. George A. Akerlof, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(4), pages 543-569.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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