Seeking a passionate, committed and energetic person: How somatic norms are reinforced in arts employment

Despite sector-wide diversity initiatives and the stated equality aims of many arts organisations, the arts workforce remains relatively demographically homogeneous. One reason for this is that the industry is characterised by precarity, poor pay and unfair recruitment practices – all features that privilege people with social, economic and cultural capital. In this context, such capitals are routinely perceived as being embodied by a somatic norm that is white, male and middle class.

To investigate this somatic norm within the arts and consider its impact on workforce diversity, this paper analyses the person specifications of 1,443 recent job listings on artsjobs.org.uk. It identifies criteria associated with the terms of flexibility, warmth, energy and cultural interests, arguing such criteria mask underlying requirements for financial, social and cultural capital. Using linear regression, the relationship between term inclusion, artform subsectors and salary bands is investigated.

The findings show the somatic norm to be insidious, with over one third of advertisements requesting at least one of the identified criteria. This supports the theory that being a sociable, adaptable and culturally interested person is a requirement for many roles in the arts. Terms associated with adaptability and energy are found to be most commonly featured; salary emerges as a significant predictor for adaptability in particular, with all roles paid under £50k more likely to request this trait than those paid over £50k. There are no significant differences across artforms, suggesting the somatic norm permeates the sector.

This unique assessment demonstrates the systemic privileging of the somatic norm within the arts by employment gatekeepers. Through doing so, this research offers new insight into why ongoing sector-wide efforts initiatives to ‘increase diversity’ may not be enough to bring about radical change in the demographics of the arts workforce.

 

 Ray Morrison is a PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield, researching cultural participation, social inequality and social reproduction.