This article extends sociological and feminist accounts of housework by examining the social sign... more This article extends sociological and feminist accounts of housework by examining the social significance of the rise of the ‘cleanfluencer’: online influencers who supply household cleaning and organization tips and modes of lifestyle aspiration via social media. We focus on ‘Mrs Hinch’; aka Sophie Hinchliffe from Essex, the ‘homegrown’ Instagram star with 4.1 million followers who shares daily images and stories of cleaning and family life, and has a series of bestselling books, regular daytime TV appearances and supermarket tie-ins. We argue that, within neoliberal culture, housework is now often refashioned as a form of therapy for women’s stressful lives: stresses that neoliberalism and patriarchy have both generated and compounded. The argument is developed through three sections. First, we locate Mrs Hinch in relation to longer classed, gendered and racialized histories of domestic labour and the figure of the ‘housewife’, and the re-writing of domestic narratives to find new...
This paper offers a sociological understanding of the role of catalogue shopping in women's every... more This paper offers a sociological understanding of the role of catalogue shopping in women's everyday lives. The paper draws on qualitative data generated from interviews with women working at the returns department of the Kays catalogue warehouse in Worcester. During the time of writing, Shop Direct, owners of Kays closed down the historic warehouse in Worcester, effectively bringing over 200 years of Worcester's association with Kays and the catalogue industry to an end, and leading to 500 job losses, including those of the women taking part in the research. Once the largest private employer in Worcester, Kays occupies an important role in local cultural and social identities, and in this paper, I will argue that a sociological account of catalogue shopping is apt and timely given such significant social changes, the recent economic downturn, and social problems that have long been associated with this form of consumption. In addition, the paper will show that to date, much research into catalogue shopping has tended to rest on economic historical accounts of the 'mail order' industry. In contrast, this paper argues that catalogue shopping occupies not only a significant place in the popular cultural imagination surrounding the shopping habits of the working classes (and especially working class women), but has also played a crucial role in women's management of the home, caring for the family, and safeguarding an often limited financial budget. The paper will consider the important role that catalogues have played in offering credit to working class women who may have previously struggled to get this. Finally, it adds to recent attempts to put women's domestic consumption patterns firmly on the academic agenda.
This article extends sociological and feminist accounts of housework by examining the social sign... more This article extends sociological and feminist accounts of housework by examining the social significance of the rise of the ‘cleanfluencer’: online influencers who supply household cleaning and organization tips and modes of lifestyle aspiration via social media. We focus on ‘Mrs Hinch’; aka Sophie Hinchliffe from Essex, the ‘homegrown’ Instagram star with 4.1 million followers who shares daily images and stories of cleaning and family life, and has a series of bestselling books, regular daytime TV appearances and supermarket tie-ins. We argue that, within neoliberal culture, housework is now often refashioned as a form of therapy for women’s stressful lives: stresses that neoliberalism and patriarchy have both generated and compounded. The argument is developed through three sections. First, we locate Mrs Hinch in relation to longer classed, gendered and racialized histories of domestic labour and the figure of the ‘housewife’, and the re-writing of domestic narratives to find new...
This paper offers a sociological understanding of the role of catalogue shopping in women's every... more This paper offers a sociological understanding of the role of catalogue shopping in women's everyday lives. The paper draws on qualitative data generated from interviews with women working at the returns department of the Kays catalogue warehouse in Worcester. During the time of writing, Shop Direct, owners of Kays closed down the historic warehouse in Worcester, effectively bringing over 200 years of Worcester's association with Kays and the catalogue industry to an end, and leading to 500 job losses, including those of the women taking part in the research. Once the largest private employer in Worcester, Kays occupies an important role in local cultural and social identities, and in this paper, I will argue that a sociological account of catalogue shopping is apt and timely given such significant social changes, the recent economic downturn, and social problems that have long been associated with this form of consumption. In addition, the paper will show that to date, much research into catalogue shopping has tended to rest on economic historical accounts of the 'mail order' industry. In contrast, this paper argues that catalogue shopping occupies not only a significant place in the popular cultural imagination surrounding the shopping habits of the working classes (and especially working class women), but has also played a crucial role in women's management of the home, caring for the family, and safeguarding an often limited financial budget. The paper will consider the important role that catalogues have played in offering credit to working class women who may have previously struggled to get this. Finally, it adds to recent attempts to put women's domestic consumption patterns firmly on the academic agenda.
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