The Importance of Un-interactive Labor in the Apparel Chain Store, Company A: A Case Study through the Participant Observation of Part-time Sales Clerks

Abstract

This paper aims to show how un-interactive labor is carried out in contemporary retailing through examining a case of study of Company A. Since 1980’s, Labor Process Theory （LPT） has shown characteristic of service labor. It shows that service labor process is composed of interactive labor and un-interactive labor. Interactive labor is the labor that occurs when they face-to-face to customer like selling. On the other hand, un-interactive labor is the labor that occurs through attending selling （shelf stacking, cleaning, organizing commodities etc···）. However, many previous studies mainly have examined interactive labor. In Company A, sales clerks mainly carry out un-interactive labor because Company A adopts self-service for small number of store operations and efficiency of work. Therefore, this paper focuses on the un-interactive labor of part-time sales clerks and analyses them through the participant observation method. This paper shows two characteristic store management systems and reveals how these systems compel overwork sales clerks. Finally, this paper concludes that two store management systems cause scientific management of un-interactive labor.