Note: Page numbers in italics indicate figures and page numbers in bold indicate tables.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 15, 144 Abolitionist consciousness, 179
ACLU. See American Civil Liberties Union Aesthetic labor, 63, 143
Affective pinkertons,” 144, 145
AIMEE. See Artificial Intelligence for Managers and Employees Allen, Bobbie, 169–170
Amazon, 4, 132
distribution centers, 197–198 fulfillment centers, 4
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 170 Analog threads, 140–142
Andrejevic, Mark, 145 Artificial intelligence, 39
Artificial Intelligence for Managers and Employees (AIMEE), 38–39 tlantic, The, 10
Automated scheduling systems, 7, 32–33, 183 software, 186
tools of trade, 33–41 total flexibility, 49
and unstable lives of workers, 41–49 utomating Inequality (Eubanks), 145–146 Automation, 3, 7, 39, 114, 123, 145, 182–183 Auyero, Javier, 55
Aware” (green clothing line of Style Queen), 187 Bad productivity” ratio, 40
Barocas, Solon, 78 Behavior profiling,” 169
Benjamin, Ruha, 8, 124, 179, 188 Benson, Susan Porter, 33, 142, 154 Bezos, Jeff, 13
BID. See Business Improvement District Big data, 36, 38, 39, 123, 144
policing, 152
role in retail, 77, 115 solutions, 152
surveillance, 139, 167, 178
Biometric fingerprint scanners, 126, 147, 186 class-action lawsuits against retailers, 132–133 drawbacks in, 128–130
using Kronos, 126–128, 127
resistance to digital surveillance, 132
rudimentary fingerprint scanning technology, 133–134 worker’s experience with, 130–131
Black Lives Matter movement (BLM movement), 8, 151, 153, 164, 178. See also Retail Action Project (RAP)
digital policing and surveillance, 167–168 disrupting business of shopping centers, 165–167 at MOA, 168–178
BLM movement. See Black Lives Matter movement Bourdieu, Pierre, 55
Brayne, Sarah, 152 Brown, Michael, 164, 172 Browne, Simone, 8, 107, 179 Buckle (clothing store), 78
Business Improvement District (BID), 26–27 Business Insider, 10
Cash register of garment industry, 108. See also Fitting room of garment industry; Sales floor of garment industry; Stockroom of garment industry
cashiers’ roles in, 108–110
experiences of workers in, 111–112 fast-paced work at, 140
need for garment care in, 113
sources of customer frustration, 113–114 working at, 134–135
Castille, Philando, 191
CCTV. See Closed-circuit television Center for Popular Democracy, 167 Clark, Jamar, 191
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), 27 Coding, 208
Connolly, N. D. B., 165–166
Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores 1890–1940 (Benson), 142, 143
COVID-19 pandemic, 195
impact in fast fashion industry, 196–197 Critical biometric consciousness, 179
Critical data praxis, 8, 153, 162–164, 178–179, 182, 185, 186 Cullors, Patrisse, 164
Customer service, 66, 97, 102, 104, 145 lack of, 79, 114
unpredictability of, 96 Data-driven management, 49 Data-driven retailing, 41
Data fashions precarity, 142–147 Data sharing, 124
Davis, Mike, 166–167 Debord, Guy, 125 Delany, Samuel, 26
Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement (Parker), 166 Dependability and Safety Instrument,” 73
Design justice, 188 Digital policing, 167–168
Digital surveillance/monitoring of workers, 7, 121, 144, 167–168, 183 analog threads, 140–142
biometric fingerprint scanners as time management, 126–134 data fashions precarity, 142–147
NRF Protect conference for, 121–126 point-of-sale surveillance, 134–140
retail labor processes and surveillance, 142 using social media to, 120–121
technologies, 117–118, 125–126
Digital technologies, 3–4, 158–159, 184, 185 Digital tools, 7, 120, 121
Digitization of service work, 75 interactive service work, 76 refractive surveillance, 78–79 reliance on digital technology, 80 use of big data in retail, 87 use of tracking software, 76–77 Digitized point-of-sale systems, 76 Dishonest employee cases, 120
Distorting move” behavior, 140
Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” campaigns, 166
Echeverría, Jesús, 77
Emotional labor, 75–76, 80, 143 decline in, 182–183
of surveillance, 7, 181 Employee dishonesty,” 136
Enhanced Service Portal of MOA, 170 Ethnography, 199
Eubanks, Virginia, 145–146
Exception-based reporting, 135–136, 136
Exploitation of workers, 5, 18, 107, 153–154, 177, 187, 196 External theft, 119. See also Internal theft by employees
acial recognition technology, 124–125, 186 air Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 34 ast fashion industry, 2–3, 9, 13, 144, 151
alternatives to, 187
associated with technologies, 3–4 examining workers experience in, 4–5 gender diversity in, 21–22
and global garment industry, 16–18 growth strategies, 14
history of retail labor, 18–23 just-in-time production, 15–16, 36 in New York City, 23–28, 44 retail labor, 115–116, 151
transformation of work and life for people in, 181–182
Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life (Leidner), 38 Fight for 15” movement, 31, 34
Financial Times, 10 iske, John, 177
itting room of garment industry. See also Cash register of garment industry; Sales floor of garment industry; Stockroom of garment industry
attendants’ role in, 101–102, 104, 106 experiences of workers in, 104–106
“garment caring” in, 80, 104, 106–107 impact of online reviews, 102–103 store policy, 103
LSA. See Fair Labor Standards Act orever 21 store, 9, 15, 24, 26
bankruptcy, 13
voices for fair working conditions, 17 Fusion center,” 125
G4S, 134
Garner, Eric, 149, 150–151, 172, 191 Garza, Alicia, 164
Gates, Bill, 13
Gender diversity in fast fashion industry, 21–22 Geofeedia, 170–172
Glassdoor.com, 50 Goffman, Alice, 205 Goffman, Erving, 205
Good Old Lower East Side, 157 Goodwill thrift stores, 24 Google, 79
Greenwashing, 18, 187
Gunnebo Cash Management Solutions, 137 H&M Herald Square, 9–12, 12, 13, 16, 23, 196 Harcourt, Bernard, 120, 121
Hochschild, Arlie, 75–76, 116, 143, 181, 182 Hollibaugh, Amber, 23
Hollinger, Richard, 136, 137 Huang, Mingwei, 200 Hyphen-Labs project, 188
dentimation, 134
dle No More movemen, 172, 177 nditex, 13, 15, 77
nstitutional Review Board (IRB), 200 nteractive customer service, 20–21 ntercept, The, 172
nternal theft by employees, 136–137. See also External theft nTouch (Kronos), 127
RB. See Institutional Review Board ust-in-time
inventory, 36 labor, 36
production, 15, 36, 41, 158–159 Kaplan, Esther, 37, 38, 49
Kelley, Robin D. G., 184 Korczynski, Marek, 87 Kronos, 36, 49, 186
AIMEE, 38–39
bills biometric fingerprint technology, 128 biometric scanner advertisement, 126–127, 127 InTouch, 127
workforce management dashboard, 39–40, 40 workforce management platforms, 37–38 workforce scheduling algorithm, 37 Kulle, Daniel, 14
Kundnani, Arun, 179
Kurrently (monitoring platform), 172 Labor movement, 33, 185
critical data praxis in, 162–164
tensions over race, gender, and sexuality in, 155 Large-scale industry-based” campaigns, 155 Leidner, Robin, 38
Levy, Karen, 78, 131
Loss prevention (LP) personnel/staff, 123, 136, 147, 167 Macy’s, 9, 15, 34
Made in L. A. documentary, 17 Magnet, Shoshana, 133–134 Mall of America (MOA), 168
BLM protest at, 172–178, 175 Enhanced Service Portal, 170 RAM, 169–170
role of Geofeedia, 170–172 security apparatus of, 169
Managed Heart, The (Hochschild), 75–76, 181, 182 Managed heart of retail worker, 76, 115, 183 Martin, Trayvon, 164
Marx, Gary, 140 Marxist theory, 210
May Day demonstration in Chicago, 33–34 McDonald’s, 9, 38
McFashion, 2, 120
biometric technology in, 126, 127 cash register in, 108–109
comparative case study approach in, 208–209 ethnographic research in, 201–202
fitting room environment in, 101 flexible scheduling, 42, 43 interview experience in, 49–60
malfunctioning of fingerprint scanners, 129–130 sales floor environment in, 97
stockroom in, 81 Mears, Ashley, 143 Mills, C. Wright, 106
Minneapolis Uprising, 191–194, 195 MOA. See Mall of America
Monitor (monitoring platform), 172 Mystery shoppers, 144, 145, 146
National Retail Federation (NRF), 122, 209 Protect conference, 121–126, 137, 152, 160 RAP at Big Show, 159–162
National Retail Security Survey, 136, 146 New York City, fast-fashion stores in, 23–28 Nickelodeon Universe, 171
NRF. See National Retail Federation On-call scheduling, 43, 47
On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City (Goffman), 205 Orta, Ramsey, 150–151
Ortega, Amancio, 13 Osterweil, Vicky, 144
antaleo, Daniel, 151, 172 arker, Traci, 166
edagogy, permanent, 94–96 ersson, Stefan, 13
ettinger, Lynne, 104
inkerton National Detective Agency, 121
oint-of-sale surveillance system (POS surveillance system), 36, 134–135 exception-based reporting, 135–136, 136
fast-paced work monitoring, 140 for reducing internal theft, 136–137 worker’s experience about, 137–140 orter-Benson, Susan, 115
OS surveillance system. See Point-of-sale surveillance system Problem with Work, The (Weeks), 184
sychological noise, 142
ush model of production, 15–16, 77 Queer class and race” issues, 156 Queer precarity, 23
Race after Technology (Benjamin), 188 Radical design, 188
Radio-frequency identification (RFID), 76 RAM. See Risk Assessment and Mitigation Rana Plaza Collapse in Bangladesh, 16 RAP. See Retail Action Project
Refinery 29 fashion website, 77 Refractive surveillance, 78–79
Retail Action Project (RAP), 8, 11, 22, 32, 153, 154–155, 178, 197, 209. See also Black Lives Matter movement (BLM movement)
critical data praxis in labor movement, 162–164 fast-fashion retail organizing, 155–156
labor unions, 154
Member Organizing Training program, 156 at NRF’s Big Show, 159–162
RWDSU and, 157
shifting organizing strategy, 157–158 workers’ centers, 154, 156
Retail labor, 81, 90, 163
fast-fashion, 5, 72, 80, 115–116, 151 history of, 18–23
just-in-time, 147, 152
processes and surveillance, 142 RetailNext, 135
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), 157, 163 Reynolds, Douglas, 169
RFID. See Radio-frequency identification
Risk Assessment and Mitigation (RAM), 169–170 Ritzer, George, 84
Robinson, Cedric, 174
Ross Dress for Less brand, 17
Rudimentary fingerprint scanning technology, 133–134 RWDSU. See Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
afeZone Collaborative, 194–195
ales floor of garment industry, 89–101. See also Cash register of garment industry; Fitting room of garment industry; Stockroom of garment industry
experiences of workers in, 90–94, 95–99 permanent pedagogy, 94–95
role of associates, 89–90 workers’ pressures in, 99–101 allaz, Jeffrey, 94–95, 96
harma, Sara, 44 Slow” clothing, 187
ocial media, 120
Special order” (suspicious customers), 167 terne, Jonathan, 168
tockroom of garment industry. See also Cash register of garment industry; Fitting room of garment industry; Sales floor of garment industry
experiences of workers in, 85–86 interactive service, 89
music and pop culture in, 86–89 process of stock shifts in, 82–84 role of associates, 81–82
sorting “call-off” inventory, 85 tyle Queen, 2, 41–42, 44
biometric technology in, 126, 127 cash register in, 109–110
comparative case study approach in, 208–209 ethnographic research in, 202–203, 204 fitting room environment in, 101–102 flexible scheduling, 42, 43
interview experience in, 60–72 processing garments in, 83–85 promoting green clothing line, 187 sales floor environment in, 97 stockroom associates in, 81 stock shifts at, 82–83 wage theft in, 132 Taft-Hartley Act, 157
Target Corporation, 13, 192–196, 194 Target Workers Unite initiative, 194 Technoprecarity, 151–152, 162, 178 Technoscience, 146
Thompson, E. P., 4
Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (Delany), 26 Time theft, 132, 133
Time work, 44–45, 45 TJ Maxx, 17
Tometi, Opal [Ayọ], 164
Topsy (monitoring platform), 172 Total schedule flexibility, 3, 6
Toxic chemicals in garments, exposure to, 83–84