Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market
We provide a framework for reconciling two seemingly incompatible claims regarding identity in social and economic arenas: (a) that complex, multivalent identities are advantageous because they afford greater flexibility; and (b) that simple, generic identities are advantageous because they facil...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
2003
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/3519 |
| _version_ | 1811079740775202816 |
|---|---|
| author | Zuckerman, Ezra W. Kim, Tai-Young Ukanwa, Kalinda James, von Rittmann |
| author_facet | Zuckerman, Ezra W. Kim, Tai-Young Ukanwa, Kalinda James, von Rittmann |
| author_sort | Zuckerman, Ezra W. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We provide a framework for reconciling two seemingly incompatible claims regarding
identity in social and economic arenas: (a) that complex, multivalent identities are
advantageous because they afford greater flexibility; and (b) that simple, generic
identities are advantageous because they facilitate interpretation by key audiences.
Following Faulkner (1983), we argue that these claims do not conflict with one another
but that they apply to different contexts. A generic identity is helpful in gaining the
recognition necessary for sustained participation in a social arena. However, as one
becomes better established, the limitations entailed by a simple, “typecast” identity
increasingly rival the benefits. We test these hypotheses in an analysis of the labor
market for actors in the feature film industry. Interviews with key informants and
analysis of comprehensive data from the Internet Movie Database support the proposed
theoretical framework. In addition, the evidence supports the salience of the
hypothesized typecasting processes even in the presence of related processes based on
underlying skill differences and social networks. Our results have important implications
for research on identity formation in various social arenas, categorical boundaries in
external labor markets, and more generally, the interplay between actor and position
inherent in market dynamics |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:19:48Z |
| format | Working Paper |
| id | mit-1721.1/3519 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:19:48Z |
| publishDate | 2003 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/35192019-04-12T08:22:40Z Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market Zuckerman, Ezra W. Kim, Tai-Young Ukanwa, Kalinda James, von Rittmann We provide a framework for reconciling two seemingly incompatible claims regarding identity in social and economic arenas: (a) that complex, multivalent identities are advantageous because they afford greater flexibility; and (b) that simple, generic identities are advantageous because they facilitate interpretation by key audiences. Following Faulkner (1983), we argue that these claims do not conflict with one another but that they apply to different contexts. A generic identity is helpful in gaining the recognition necessary for sustained participation in a social arena. However, as one becomes better established, the limitations entailed by a simple, “typecast” identity increasingly rival the benefits. We test these hypotheses in an analysis of the labor market for actors in the feature film industry. Interviews with key informants and analysis of comprehensive data from the Internet Movie Database support the proposed theoretical framework. In addition, the evidence supports the salience of the hypothesized typecasting processes even in the presence of related processes based on underlying skill differences and social networks. Our results have important implications for research on identity formation in various social arenas, categorical boundaries in external labor markets, and more generally, the interplay between actor and position inherent in market dynamics 2003-06-02T19:51:32Z 2003-06-02T19:51:32Z 2003-06-02T19:51:32Z Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/3519 en_US MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper;4291-02 847597 bytes application/pdf application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Zuckerman, Ezra W. Kim, Tai-Young Ukanwa, Kalinda James, von Rittmann Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market |
| title | Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market |
| title_full | Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market |
| title_fullStr | Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market |
| title_full_unstemmed | Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market |
| title_short | Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market |
| title_sort | robust identities or non entities typecasting in the feature film labor market |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/3519 |
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