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Erika Andersson Cederholm.

Erika Andersson Cederholm

Professor

Erika Andersson Cederholm.

With a little help from my friends : relational work in leisure-related enterprising

Author

  • Erika Andersson Cederholm
  • Malin Åkerström

Summary, in English

The present article analyses the indistinct boundaries between formal and informal economic exchanges, with a focus on friendship and work relations. To illustrate these intersections, we present a study of Swedish lifestyle entrepreneurs who run small-scale horse-related enterprises. The specific characteristics of this form of business—in which the horse farm owners/operators, customers, employees, and voluntary workers share a leisure interest in horses and participate in the everyday work on the farm—provide the foundation for a work environment where personal favour exchanges and a gift economy are intertwined with a monetary economy. Drawing on Viviana Zelizer’s notion of ‘relational work,’ the present analysis focuses on how relationships, transactions, and forms of repayments are constantly negotiated along a continuum between work-oriented friendship and friendly work relations. The empirical illustrations demonstrate the limitations of the notion of boundary work often employed in studies of relational work—which emphasizes boundary definition. In contrast, it seems that relational work may also involve practices that intentionally maintain indistinct boundaries between different types of relationships, thus sustaining tension between a formal and informal economy.

Department/s

  • Department of Service Studies
  • Sociology

Publishing year

2016-04

Language

English

Pages

748-765

Publication/Series

The Sociological Review

Volume

64

Issue

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Topic

  • Sociology

Keywords

  • relational work
  • informal economy
  • gift economy
  • friendship
  • leisure

Status

Published

Project

  • Hästgården - mellan familjeprojekt och livsstilsföretage

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1467-954X