IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v37y2023i4p952-971.html

Embedded Strangers in One’s Own Job? Freelance Interpreters’ Invisible Work: A Practice Theory Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Deborah Giustini

    (KU Leuven, Belgium)

Abstract

This article investigates invisible work, as voiced by professionals in the interpreting sector in the UK. Informed by a practice theory approach alongside the sociology of invisible work, it re-frames invisibility as enacted according to the elements that organise and motivate work in terms of purposeful, normative and skilful actions. Drawing on a qualitative dataset of 20 observations and 46 interviews with interpreters, the article conceives invisibility as a functional labour logic in which compliance and resistance to being unseen are the twofold cornerstone of professionalism but also of devaluation. As a freelance workforce, interpreters face contradictions between deontological and stakeholders’ expectations of invisibility, and the individual need of displaying an expert role for securing work continuity. This article contributes to social practice and invisible work literature by uncovering the performative interrelation of the work dynamics which demand a negotiation of hidden/visible status.

Suggested Citation

  • Deborah Giustini, 2023. "Embedded Strangers in One’s Own Job? Freelance Interpreters’ Invisible Work: A Practice Theory Approach," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(4), pages 952-971, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:4:p:952-971
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170211059351
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170211059351
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09500170211059351?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. Martha S. Feldman & Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2011. "Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1240-1253, October.
    2. Jenna Pandeli & Michael Marinetto & Jean Jenkins, 2019. "Captive in Cycles of Invisibility? Prisoners’ Work for the Private Sector," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(4), pages 596-612, August.
    3. Rebecca Whiting & Gillian Symon, 2020. "Digi-Housekeeping: The Invisible Work of Flexibility," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1079-1096, December.
    4. Ginny M Sargent & Julia McQuoid & Jane Dixon & Cathy Banwell & Lyndall Strazdins, 2021. "Flexible Work, Temporal Disruption and Implications for Health Practices: An Australian Qualitative Study," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(2), pages 277-295, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Giada Baldessarelli & Nathalie Lazaric & Michele Pezzoni, 2022. "Organizational routines: Evolution in the research landscape of two core communities," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 1119-1154, September.
    2. Shih-Chang Hung & Yung-Ching Tseng, 2017. "Extending the LLL framework through an institution-based view: Acer as a dragon multinational," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 799-821, December.
    3. Nathalie Lazaric & Loubna Echajari & Dorota Leszczyńska, 2025. "The Multiplicity of Paths to Sustainability, Grand Challenges and Routine Changes: The Long Road for Bordeaux Winemakers," GREDEG Working Papers 2025-27, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    4. Davide Nicolini & Maja Korica, 2021. "Attentional Engagement as Practice: A Study of the Attentional Infrastructure of Healthcare Chief Executive Officers," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 1273-1299, September.
    5. Pop, Madalina & Kleindienst, Ingo & Hautz, Julia, 2026. "Using trust practices to manage risks in open strategy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    6. Natalia Levina & Manuel Arriaga, 2014. "Distinction and Status Production on User-Generated Content Platforms: Using Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Production to Understand Social Dynamics in Online Fields," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 468-488, September.
    7. Palo, Teea & Åkesson, Maria & Löfberg, Nina, 2019. "Servitization as business model contestation: A practice approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 486-496.
    8. Ruth Sessler Bernstein & Morgan Bulger & Paul Salipante & Judith Y. Weisinger, 2020. "From Diversity to Inclusion to Equity: A Theory of Generative Interactions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 395-410, December.
    9. Phillips, Paul & Moutinho, Luiz, 2014. "Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 96-120.
    10. Gazi Islam, 2012. "Recognition, Reification, and Practices of Forgetting: Ethical Implications of Human Resource Management," Post-Print hal-01232667, HAL.
    11. Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi & Christoph Lutz & Karen Boyd & Carsten Oesterlund & Matthew Willis, 2023. "Artificial intelligence in the work context," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(3), pages 303-310, March.
    12. Ulrike Landfester & Jörg Metelmann, 2020. "The Value of Doubt: Humanities-Based Literacy in Management Education," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 159-175, December.
    13. Jose Luis Retolaza & Leire San-Jose, 2021. "Understanding Social Accounting Based on Evidence," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    14. Rebecca Adler-Nissen, 2016. "Towards a Practice Turn in EU Studies: The Everyday of European Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 87-103, January.
    15. Anne Kokkonen & Pauli Alin, 2015. "Practice-based learning in construction projects: a literature review," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(7), pages 513-530, July.
    16. Orlikowski, Wanda J. & Scott, Susan V., 2015. "The algorithm and the crowd: considering the materiality of service innovation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 57601, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Moshe Farjoun & Christopher Ansell & Arjen Boin, 2015. "PERSPECTIVE—Pragmatism in Organization Studies: Meeting the Challenges of a Dynamic and Complex World," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1787-1804, December.
    18. Luciana D’Adderio, 2014. "The Replication Dilemma Unravelled: How Organizations Enact Multiple Goals in Routine Transfer," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(5), pages 1325-1350, October.
    19. Liubertė Irina, 2019. "On Social Knowledge and Its Empirical Investigation in Contemporary Organisations," Management of Organizations: Systematic Research, Sciendo, vol. 81(1), pages 21-37, June.
    20. Jérôme Méric & Christophe Godowski, 2014. "Le Changement A L'Echelle Des Pratiques De Controle : Le Cas D'Une Universite Française," Post-Print hal-01899176, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:4:p:952-971. 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: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    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.