Date of Graduation
Fall 2023
Degree
Master of Arts in English
Department
English
Committee Chair
Shannon Wooden
Abstract
This thesis is an exploration of the phenomenon of the auto-exploitation of the modern individual through and in conjunction with the commodification of time. It explores the eruption of gig-work in recent decades in the United States, and the ways in which the modern individual is both consumer and product, buying and selling her own constructions of identity in order to gain time, fiscal currency and a sense of socioeconomic worth from herself and others. Using theoretical frameworks of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Catherine Rottenberg and Byung-Chul Han, I explore the ways in which the modern individual is simultaneously auto-subjected and systemically subjected to both the exploitation and auto-construction of her identity. I explore this phenomenon through the lens of my own experiences as a modern individual existing in a feminine-coded body through creative writing, employing lyric essays and poetry to convey my experiences within a gig-saturated society.
Keywords
auto-exploitation, consumerism, neoliberalism, commodification, time, identity, gig-economy, gig-society
Subject Categories
Creative Writing | Digital Humanities | E-Commerce | Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Nonfiction | Poetry
Copyright
© Grace C. Willis Ms.
Recommended Citation
Willis, Grace C. Ms., "Auto-Exploited: Narrative Explorations of the Commodification of Time" (2023). MSU Graduate Theses. 3937.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3937
Open Access
Included in
Digital Humanities Commons, E-Commerce Commons, Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Poetry Commons
