The Gig city

Tech-based revitalization and contingent labor across classes in Chattanooga, TN

Bibliographic Data

ID3877934
AuthorsMauri Systo (0000-0001-7189-269X, University of Minnesota Morris, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume35
Issue3
Pages160-176
Publication date2023-08-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCultural Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0921-3740 • E-ISSN: 1461-7048
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/09213740231191497
OpenAlexW4385359392
LanguageEN
References cited28

In Chattanooga, TN, the construction of a fiber optic telecommunications network has led to a tech-based revitalization strategy, and the promotion of entrepreneurial and technical positions within the Downtown. Rather than being a solution for a better labor future, this paper demonstrates how revitalization has served to perpetuate contingent hiring practice across classes and sectors and create contingency in new ones. In focusing on the types of work valorized in public discourse (an educated yet contingent tech sector) and those that remain devalorized (the many ancillary sectors which support tech-based growth) this paper argues for the need for a policy agenda which takes varied labor forms and livelihood strategies into account. The experience of contingency is examined across classes to demonstrate how revitalization discourses and historical discourses perpetuate social disparities despite the connectedness of workers via workforce restructuring

Contingency · Downtown · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Livelihood · Political science · Public relations · Restructuring · Sociology · Stylized fact · Telecommuting · Workforce · Employment and Welfare Studies · Engineering · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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