Walking Mannequins How Race and Gender Inequalities Shape Retail Clothing Work

"This is a major contribution to the research on work, consumption, and aesthetic labor in the modern economy. It's a compelling read that will have a significant impact on how we think about the racial and gendered dynamics of workplace inequality."—Adia Harvey Wingfield, Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Arts and Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis

"Joya Misra and Kyla Walters offer important, unprecedented insights into work and inequality in an often overlooked sector: fashion retail. The book casts a bright light on how status-infused workplaces thoroughly discipline low-wage workers to promote sales and maintain the image of the brand, paying consistent attention to race. Walking Mannequins updates our knowledge of how technology and accelerated product cycles affect work processes in fast-fashion."—Eileen Otis, author of Markets and Bodies: Women, Service Work, and the Making of Inequality in Chin​a

"This outstanding book is essential reading for anyone interested in interactive service work. It offers new theoretical insights and rich empirical data in an accessible and engaging text, highlighting how gender, race, class, and sexuality intersect to illuminate the stark reality of working in clothing retail."—Dennis Nickson, coauthor of Aesthetic Labour

“I had a fantastic experience teaching Walking Mannequins. It’s on a topic that students are interested in and about their age group, and it speaks to their concerns. It covers many bases for social science classes, such as work; consumption; race, class, and gender; identity. My students loved it—and it generated great conversation. This book is a can't miss for undergraduate teaching. I also plan to assign it in my graduate seminar on the sociology of work.”—Juliet Schor, author of After the Gig: How the Sharing Economy Got Hijacked and How to Win It Back

“ Walking Mannequins was an excellent book to teach in my undergraduate class on Gender & Work. Students loved reading about a topic that is so close to their lives—both as consumers of, and young workers in, fashion retail—and learned a great deal about the ways that gender and race shape labor practices and dynamics in these jobs. They were also thrilled to have Joya Misra and Kyla Walters visit the class and share their research process with them!”—Guillermina Altomonte, Assistant Professor of Sociology, New York University