When Leisure Becomes Work in Modern Roller Derby
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Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations January 2019 Turning Passion Into Profit: When Leisure Becomes Work In Modern Roller Derby Amanda Nicole Draft Wayne State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Part of the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, Sociology Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Draft, Amanda Nicole, "Turning Passion Into Profit: When Leisure Becomes Work In Modern Roller Derby" (2019). Wayne State University Dissertations. 2202. https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/2202 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. TURNING PASSION INTO PROFIT: WHEN LEISURE BECOMES WORK IN MODERN ROLLER DERBY by AMANDA DRAFT DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2019 SOCIOLOGY Approved By: ________________________________________ Advisor Date ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ DEDICATION For past, present, and future roller derby enthusiasts. This work is for us, about us, by us. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My deepest thanks first go to my advisor, Heather Dillaway, and the members of my dissertation committee: Krista Brumley, Sara Flory, and Heidi Gottfried. Thank you for bearing with me as I struggled to keep myself on track to complete this mountain of work and for reminding me that a dissertation does not have to be perfect, it just has to be done! Thank you for believing in my work and for pushing me to think of how my findings mattered to the world outside of derby, because sometimes I forget that there is such a world. Special thanks to Sara for always checking on my progress when we ended up at the same derby tournaments, and for validating my work as a skater yourself. I would also like to thank my fellow sociology graduate students who went through the program with me, especially those in our informal qualitative research meeting group. Even though we came to the program at different times, we supported one another and were able to laugh, cry, and vent about the world around us. That is what a cohort should be. Like most things in derby, this work is a community effort. Thank you so much to all the leaders and entrepreneurs who saw something special in my work and were willing to tell me your stories. For allowing me a little bit of space in your already overflowing schedules, I am indebted. I see you all doing amazing things on and off the track, and I can only hope that I did your words and experiences justice. I would also like to thank my teammates for their support, or just being there at practice so I could skate things out with you after a long day of writing. To my parents: Never having attended college, I knew you didn’t know much about the workings of higher education, but you did understand how much it meant to me to finish this degree, even if it meant I was always busy. For that, I will always be grateful. To my brother: Your sense of humor and gentle pushing to continue video game nights was one of the things that kept me sane during this entire process. iii Finally, heartfelt thanks go to my partner, Riley Elam. While I would have been stubborn enough to get through the last three years without you in my life, it would have been much more difficult. Thank you for supporting me and understanding how much completing this stage of my life means to me. I will always be grateful for the evenings of you shoving food in my face while I had my head buried in my laptop, all of the derby trips where you drove as I typed, and when you started taking on more chores at home to accommodate me. I adore you for sticking by me from the start through the finish line. This phase of my life is ending, but the next phase of ours is just beginning. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: LOOMING QUESTIONS, FRUSTRATING ANSWERS ..... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 9 Conceptualizing work ................................................................................................................. 9 Conceptualizing leisure ............................................................................................................. 14 Blurring the boundaries of leisure and work ............................................................................. 16 “Doing what you love:” turning leisure into paid work in alternative sport ............................. 19 Roller derby literature, or we’ve come a long way from fishnets ............................................. 23 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER 3: STUDY CONTEXT .............................................................................................. 29 Historical roots (1935-1999) ..................................................................................................... 29 Roller derby’s revival in Austin (2001-2003) ........................................................................... 31 The birth of the WFTDA and the derby industry (2004-present) ............................................. 35 Derby league organizational structure and values..................................................................... 40 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 45 Sample parameters .................................................................................................................... 49 v Recruitment ............................................................................................................................... 52 Data collection and analysis ...................................................................................................... 55 Sample description .................................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 5: “I CAN’T IMAGINE BEING IN A DIFFERENT INDUSTRY”: DERBY WORK AS PASSION WORK................................................................................................................... 66 Motivations in starting businesses............................................................................................. 66 Entrepreneurship/leadership as making a difference: How passion motivates practice ........... 81 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 99 CHAPTER 6: DO WHAT YOU LOVE…FOR A LIVING? PRIVILEGE AND PRECARITY IN DERBY WORK .......................................................................................................................... 102 Luck, hard work, or structure? Perspectives on “do what you love” ...................................... 103 Flexibility and autonomy through entrepreneurship: a constrained “choice” ......................... 108 “Derby is my life”: Flexibility and autonomy as an enabler to leadership ............................. 112 “You can’t pay your mortgage with a smile”: Derby entrepreneurship as precarious work .. 120 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 129 CHAPTER 7: “IT’S REALLY ONE OF THOSE ALL-OR-NOTHING THINGS”: REAL WORK AND THE IDEAL WORKER NORM IN DERBY ENTREPRENEURSHIP ............. 132 “Shattering the illusion”: When dream jobs become real work .............................................. 133 Flexibility negated: Overwork and constant availability ........................................................ 143 Reconciling work-family-derby conflict: Creating boundaries .............................................. 149 “They think a girl couldn’t be running the place”: Facing “the good old boys’ club” and gendered expertise in the industry ........................................................................................... 160 vi Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 167 CHAPTER 8: “BEING A RESPONSIBLE ADULT IS NOT WHY I JOINED DERBY”: REAL WORK AND THE IDEAL WORKER NORM IN DERBY LEADERSHIP ............................ 169 Is it a job, a hobby, or what? Defining derby as work, or not work ........................................ 170 Leaders’ hidden workload: time-intensive yet invisible ......................................................... 177 “It’s hard to put it aside and work