Far from “Fauda”: creators with disabilities in an established-outsider figuration in the Israeli film and television industries
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-08-2021-0377 |
| Published date | 09 August 2022 |
| Date | 09 August 2022 |
| Pages | 69-89 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Shani Kuna |
Far from “Fauda”: creators with
disabilities in an established-
outsider figuration in the Israeli
film and television industries
Shani Kuna
Human Resource Management Studies, Sapir College,
Hof Ashkelon, Israel
Abstract
Purpose –Ample literature has demonstrated that workers in the creative industries are excluded in terms of
gender, race and class. Fewer studies, however, have examined the career advancement challenges faced by creators
with disabilities. Drawing on insights from the established-outsider theory, this study aims to fill this lacuna.
Design/methodology/approach –The participants were 24 creators in the Israeli film and television
industries (FTIs) contending with severe forms of mental or physical and sensory impairment. In-depth semi-
structured interviews were conducted to explore practitioners’conceptions of the challenges they face in
making careers in the FTI, as well as how they contend with these challenges.
Findings –Intergroup dynamics yield an established-outsider figuration that situates creators with
disabilities in a marginal occupational position in the FTI. Creators with disabilities’lack of access to networks
of prominent creators place them in a disadvantageous position in the ongoing struggles over scarce resources
in the FTI. The structural features of the FTI, which are intertwined with the social mechanisms of
stigmatization and exclusion, make it difficult to breach any figuration once established. In defiance of their
occupational figuration, creators with disabilities utilize two tactics aimed at professional advancement: hyper-
meritocracy and advocacy. These tactics yield only partial success.
Research limitations/implications –This study does not represent the voices of decision-makers in the
film and television industries in Israel.
Practical implications –Implications are suggested regarding the role of culture funds as well as
policymakers in advancing workforce diversity and opportunity in the film and television industries.
Originality/value –This study addresses covert and unspoken barriers to equality in the creative workforce.
The findings also shed light on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workforce diversity and opportunity
in the FTI.
Keywords Creators with disabilities, Established–outsider theory, Film and television industries, Inequality,
Workforce diversity and opportunity
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Workforce diversity and unequal opportunities is a significant issues in contemporary labor
markets. A voluminous body of research has emerged to address this topic, including in the
literature on the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), which have become known for their
persistent and pervasive inequalities (Banks, 2017;Brook et al., 2020;Conor, 2014;Eikhof,
2017,2020;Littler, 2018;Wilson et al., 2020). Across advertising, broadcasting, film and new
media, minority ethnic groups, women and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds
are underrepresented occupationally, as compared to men, white people and the middle and
upper classes. In addition, people with disabilities and older people are hardly visible in key
creative roles (Gill, 2013). Gill (2014) suggested that this is a paradox: while work in the
CCI is characterized by an ethos that celebrates openness, egalitarianism and meritocracy,
Established-
outsider
figuration
69
The author is profusely thankful to Prof. Sophie Hennekam and the two anonymous reviewers for their
constructive feedback.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 26 August 2021
Revised 9 November 2021
10 March 2022
8 May 2022
19 July 2022
Accepted 22 July 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 45 No. 1, 2023
pp. 69-89
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-08-2021-0377
these fields are also marked by persistent inequalities. Consequently, as aptly put by
Comunian and England (2020, p. 115), the CCI “often becomes the realm of a privileged class
that does not represent the society that it is trying to engage with.”
While ample literature has demonstrated how CCI workers are excluded in terms of
gender, race and class, less attention has been paid to creators with disabilities whose case
remains under-researched. Creators with disabilities in the UK film and television industries
(FTIs), a part of the creative economy, were found to be doubly disadvantaged: due to the
dominant stereotype of creative workers as non-disabled, as well as the prevailing physical
and temporal organization of the labor process (Randle and Hardy, 2017). Such evidence
underscores the need for further inquiry. This study aims to fill the lacuna in the literature by
focusing on the career challenges faced by creators with disabilities in the Israeli FTI. The
Israeli labor market, in which equality and diversity are systematically undermined (Cornfeld
and Danieli, 2015;Nadiv and Kuna, 2020), provides a relevant context for examining the
following research questions:
(1) Which challenges do creators with disabilities face in making careers in the FTI?
(2) Consequently, how do creators with disabilities contend with the challenges they face
in making careers in the FTI?
Drawing on the established-outsider theory, this study aims to make scholarly contributions
by conveying how intergroup dynamics yield an occupational established-outsider figuration
that situates creators with disabilities as marginal outsiders in the Israeli FTI. The study also
sheds light on their attempts to resist and change this figuration.
The following section elaborates on the problem of pervasive inequalities in the CCI, in
particular inequalities relating to creators with disabilities. Following is a presentation of the
established-outsider theory that is utiliz ed to analyze the participants’accounts of
the occupational challenges they face in the FTI. Next, the methodology is outlined. Then
the findings are presented. The article concludes with a discussion offering theoretical
considerations and practical implications.
Inequalities in the creative workforce
A voluminous body of research has explored the persistent and pervasive inequalities in the
CCI. Eikhof (2017) suggested that studies of diversity and opportunity in the CCI have taken
one of two approaches. The first approach has been to focus on a particular worker
characteristic and explore the barriers that workers with that characteristic face in the CCI.
Gender inequality in the creative workforce has been the focus of ample studies (Berridge,
2022;Coles and Eikhof, 2021;Grugulis and Stoyanova, 2012;Lauzen, 2014;O’Brien, 2019;
Wing-Fai et al., 2015). Coles and Eikhof (2021) attributed gender inequality in the CCI to
women’s lack of access to key networks, stereotypes regarding what work women are suited
for, precarious employment conditions and a misogynistic industry. Scholars have often cited
caring responsibilities as a key reason for continuing gendered inequalities in the CCI,
referring to the mismatch between caring duties and the prominent work norms in the CCI,
which demand 24-7 performativity. Dent (2020) further explored how class-based practices
associated with motherhood have an influence on how all women are devalued as creative
workers, an effect in direct contrast to men whose employment value increases following
parenthood. In addition to gender inequalities, enduring racial inequalities also remain
entrenched throughout the CCI (Erigha, 2019,2021;Saha, 2018). Erigha (2019) found that
despite increasing racial diversity and post-racial discourses, black directors in Hollywood
were disproportionately located on the margins, underrepresented in lucrative positions at
core institutions and on core cultural products.
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