“You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public Relations
Based on critical analysis of three focus groups with PR students at Penn State, we argue that describing PR internships as “bitch work” highlights key material and ideological lessons about labour, gender, and exploitation. Analysing interviews of PR interns through Marxist and feminist perspective...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group
2015-09-01
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| Series: | tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/599 |
| _version_ | 1797719396494344192 |
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| author | Michelle Rodino-Colocino Stephanie N. Berberick |
| author_facet | Michelle Rodino-Colocino Stephanie N. Berberick |
| author_sort | Michelle Rodino-Colocino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Based on critical analysis of three focus groups with PR students at Penn State, we argue that describing PR internships as “bitch work” highlights key material and ideological lessons about labour, gender, and exploitation. Analysing interviews of PR interns through Marxist and feminist perspectives, we explain the dynamics of viewing PR internships as “bitch work.” We discuss how internships come to signify good luck in a lottery-like market while also instilling a love of work and the hope that “good work” will follow “bitch work.” Such lessons, furthermore, teach interns to unthink work, our phraseology for the ideological process of viewing internships as almost-but-not-quite labour. We conclude with a call to rethink internships as work, recognize the gendered exploitation of interns, and compensate interns for their real labour. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:05:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f0d09e34fbc445c986c8c1171ff7195e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1726-670X 1726-670X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:05:16Z |
| publishDate | 2015-09-01 |
| publisher | Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique |
| spelling | doaj.art-f0d09e34fbc445c986c8c1171ff7195e2023-09-02T15:26:06ZengPaderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research GrouptripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique1726-670X1726-670X2015-09-0113248650010.31269/triplec.v13i2.599599“You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public RelationsMichelle Rodino-Colocino0Stephanie N. Berberick1Penn State UniversityPenn State UniversityBased on critical analysis of three focus groups with PR students at Penn State, we argue that describing PR internships as “bitch work” highlights key material and ideological lessons about labour, gender, and exploitation. Analysing interviews of PR interns through Marxist and feminist perspectives, we explain the dynamics of viewing PR internships as “bitch work.” We discuss how internships come to signify good luck in a lottery-like market while also instilling a love of work and the hope that “good work” will follow “bitch work.” Such lessons, furthermore, teach interns to unthink work, our phraseology for the ideological process of viewing internships as almost-but-not-quite labour. We conclude with a call to rethink internships as work, recognize the gendered exploitation of interns, and compensate interns for their real labour.https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/599bitch workcollege studentsconsolationcompensationfeminizationgenderideologyinternshipsexploitationfree labourhope labourprecarious workpublic relations |
| spellingShingle | Michelle Rodino-Colocino Stephanie N. Berberick “You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public Relations tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique bitch work college students consolation compensation feminization gender ideology internships exploitation free labour hope labour precarious work public relations |
| title | “You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public Relations |
| title_full | “You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public Relations |
| title_fullStr | “You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public Relations |
| title_full_unstemmed | “You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public Relations |
| title_short | “You Kind of Have to Bite the Bullet and do Bitch Work”: How Internships Teach Students to Unthink Exploitation in Public Relations |
| title_sort | you kind of have to bite the bullet and do bitch work how internships teach students to unthink exploitation in public relations |
| topic | bitch work college students consolation compensation feminization gender ideology internships exploitation free labour hope labour precarious work public relations |
| url | https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/599 |
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