IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v34y2002i11p2003-2015.html

Project Work in Context: Regulatory Change and the New Geography of Media

Author

Listed:
  • Susan Christopherson

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, 106 Sibley Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA)

Abstract

Like all forms of work, project work is constructed within the rules that govern labor and capital markets. In this paper, I examine how project work and the project workforce in ‘old’ media (motion pictures and television) and ‘new’ media (multimedia or Internet-based information, entertainment, and infotainment) have been affected by changes in the regulatory regime governing entertainment and information-intensive industries in the United States. Of particular significance is the role that collective bargaining institutions play in industry governance. In the case of old media, the regulatory regime initiated in the 1980s by the Reagan administration considerably reshaped the terrain for media production. ‘Virtual integration’ of a substantial portion of production resulted in the routinization of project work and decreased the need for collocation of preproduction, production, and postproduction in Los Angeles, the ‘home base’ of these industries. Old media, however, retained the key governance organizations that predated changes in regulation, particularly guilds and unions. New media, by contrast, emerged in the 1990s era of laissez-faire regulatory policy. ‘Consent decrees’, regulating competition in a wide range of industries were lifted, allowing firms to acquire, merge, and move freely both to concentrate economic power and to diversify. Unlike their old-media counterparts, new-media workers (and their employers) did not have the intermediary institutions to set the rules for employment, to define roles in project production, or to facilitate project management. For the new-media worker, and his or her employers, stronger dependence on interpersonal connections for credentials, legitimacy, and job match means stronger dependence on regional markets. The history of change and continuity in media project work can illuminate broader questions, such as how market regulation affects the location strategies of firms and workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Christopherson, 2002. "Project Work in Context: Regulatory Change and the New Geography of Media," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(11), pages 2003-2015, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:34:y:2002:i:11:p:2003-2015
    DOI: 10.1068/a34182
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a34182
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a34182?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Norma Rantisi, 2002. "The Local Innovation System as a Source of 'Variety': Openness and Adaptability in New York City's Garment District," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 587-602.
    2. Susan Christopherson & Michael Storper, 1989. "The Effects of Flexible Specialization on Industrial Politics and the Labor Market: The Motion Picture Industry," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 42(3), pages 331-347, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Norma M. Rantisi & Deborah Leslie, 2015. "Circus in Action: Exploring the Role of a Translation Zone in the Cirque du Soleil's Creative Practices," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 91(2), pages 147-164, April.
    2. Innocenti, Stefania & Clark, Gordon L. & McGill, Sarah & Cuñado, Juncal, 2019. "The effect of past health events on intentions to purchase insurance: Evidence from 11 countries," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Roberta Comunian, 2011. "Networks of knowledge and support. Mapping relations between public, private and not for profit sector in the creative economy," ERSA conference papers ersa10p275, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Enda Murphy & Linda Fox-Rogers & Declan Redmond, 2015. "Location Decision Making of “Creative” Industries: The Media and Computer Game Sectors in Dublin, Ireland," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 97-113, March.
    5. Allan Watson & Jonathan V. Beaverstock, 2014. "World City Network Research at a Theoretical Impasse: On the Need to Re-Establish Qualitative Approaches to Understanding Agency in World City Networks," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(4), pages 412-426, September.
    6. Heydebrand, Wolf, 2009. "Accounting for great expectations: Lessons from the new media surge for critical management theory," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 418-444.
    7. Carolyn J. Hatch, 2013. "Competitiveness by Design: An Institutionalist Perspective on the Resurgence of a “Mature” Industry in a High-Wage Economy," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(3), pages 261-284, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manning, Stephan, 2017. "The rise of project network organizations: Building core teams and flexible partner pools for interorganizational projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1399-1415.
    2. Céline Abecassis & Pierre-Jean Benghozi, 2005. "Design configuration in fashion and design industries," Post-Print hal-00262989, HAL.
    3. Doloreux, David & Parto, Saeed, 2005. "Regional innovation systems: Current discourse and unresolved issues," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 133-153.
    4. Sarah Williams & Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, 2014. "Industry in Motion: Using Smart Phones to Explore the Spatial Network of the Garment Industry in New York City," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-11, February.
    5. Beth A. Bechky, 2006. "Gaffers, Gofers, and Grips: Role-Based Coordination in Temporary Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 3-21, February.
    6. Josephine V Rekers, 2012. "We're Number Two! Beta Cities and the Cultural Economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(8), pages 1912-1929, August.
    7. Hiro Izushi & Yuko Aoyama, 2006. "Industry Evolution and Cross-Sectoral Skill Transfers: A Comparative Analysis of the Video Game Industry in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(10), pages 1843-1861, October.
    8. Jerry Courvisanos & Ameeta Jain & Karim K. Mardaneh, 2016. "Economic Resilience of Regions under Crises: A Study of the Australian Economy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 629-643, April.
    9. Dominic Power & Johan Jansson, 2011. "Constructing Brands from the Outside? Brand Channels, Cyclical Clusters and Global Circuits," Chapters, in: Andy Pike (ed.), Brands and Branding Geographies, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Roberta Comunian & Alessandra Faggian, 2011. "Higher Education and the Creative City," Chapters, in: David Emanuel Andersson & Åke E. Andersson & Charlotta Mellander (ed.), Handbook of Creative Cities, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Hewitt-Dundas, Nola & Gkypali, Areti & Roper, Stephen, 2019. "Does learning from prior collaboration help firms to overcome the ‘two-worlds’ paradox in university-business collaboration?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1310-1322.
    12. Giacomo Negro & Melissa J. Williams & Elizabeth G. Pontikes & Gabrielle Lopiano, 2021. "Destigmatization and Its Imbalanced Effects in Labor Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7669-7686, December.
    13. Peter B. Doeringer & Pacey Foster & Stephan Manning & David Terkla, 2013. "Project-based industries and craft-like production: structure, location and performance," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 4, pages 99-151, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Cheng-Yi Lin, 2014. "The Evolution of Taipei’s Music Industry: Cluster and Network Dynamics in the Innovation Practices of the Music Industry," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(2), pages 335-354, February.
    15. Patrizia Casadei & Neil Lee, 2020. "Global cities, creative industries and their representation on social media: A micro-data analysis of Twitter data on the fashion industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1195-1220, September.
    16. Hicham Sebti & Narjes Sassi & Benoît Gerard, 2017. "Performance des équipes temporaires: Analyse des interactions et de l'usage de la matérialité dans la construction de rôles," Post-Print hal-01907478, HAL.
    17. Ron Boschma & Simona Iammarino, 2009. "Related Variety, Trade Linkages, and Regional Growth in Italy," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(3), pages 289-311, July.
    18. Neil M. Coe, 2001. "A Hybrid Agglomeration? The Development of a Satellite-Marshallian Industrial District in Vancouver's Film Industry," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(10), pages 1753-1775, September.
    19. Igone Porto & Jose Ramón Otegi, 2014. "ROSIS: A Regional Open Sectoral Innovation System," ERSA conference papers ersa14p389, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Xingjian Liu & Xiaohui Hu, 2018. "Are ‘Sister Cities’ from ‘Sister Provinces’? An Exploratory Study of Sister City Relations (SCRs) in China," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 473-491, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:34:y:2002:i:11:p:2003-2015. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.