This essay is in two parts and is modeled on the format of Work,Employment & Society “On the Front Line”. Informed by thecreative and journalistic approaches to work and employment, theaim is to create a (semi-)fictional worker testimony and connect the experiences of anindividual worker with the wider context of work and employment in contemporarysociety.

In Part 1 (1,000 words) you should give a first-person (i.e. ‘I did, I felt, I went’) accountof a day in the life or career narrative of a fictional or semi-fictional worker – so couldinclude, for instance, work and home life, feelings and expectations around work,periods of unemployment, unpaid domestic or reproductive work and other aspects ofthe everyday working life of the persona writing the testimony. You can use your own / another person’s experience / your imagination to inform the portrayal of theeveryday working life of the worker, you may also wish to draw upon a persona orcharacter encountered in either James Bloodworth’s ‘Hired’ or one of the films (e.g. Made in Dagenham, Ghosts, I Daniel Blake, Pride).The testimony could be based in the past, present, or the future, and can take place in any nationalcontext (or between national context if the testimony is that of, say, a migrant worker).The testimony also does not have to be confined to work in the kinds of sectors studiedin the unit – it could be a sector you are interested in for your own personal, family, orprofessional reasons. This will require creativity and some independent research tocraft a (semi-)fictional but realistic portrayal of how a given character or individualexperiences working life – and can be written colloquially or expressively asif the person is speaking.

In Part 2 (2,000 words) you should relate the worker experience captured in Part 1 towider issues and debates such as class, socialreproduction, migration, state policy, unemployment/underemployment, welfare,alternatives and futures of work), connecting the everyday working life of the individualto broader phenomena and transformations in work and employment. You may wishto draw upon and cite (Harvard referencing style) ideas and arguments from the other readings (e.g. the Cruddas book Dignity of Labour or the Futures of Work articles).In Part 2, the analysis could either take a ‘depth’ approach, going into detail on onespecific aspect of the worker’s experience –social reproduction, for instance – or could take a ‘breadth’ approach, relating thetestimony to numerous themes. Both roads are acceptable. Youmight also wish to relate the testimony experience to the policy context and suggestways in which the work could be better managed, organized, or regulated – as onefinds in the ‘On the Front Line’ pieces the assignment is modeled on.

Attatched below are examples. Please do not hesitate to contact me regarding any questions or clarifications necessary.