Career Histories and Life Course Events, Phases and Transitions in the Digital and Creative Industries for Over 35s, 2020-2021

As part of an ESRC funded PhD, this data consists of 21 out of 30* total interviews with 'older workers' (over 35) who work in the fields of 'Video' (film, TV, YouTube), 'Games' (computer games), and 'websites' (front and back end, content creation and UI/accessibility). The overarching research goal was to understand how, in the face of many challenges (related to training, accessing work, precarity, and long hours), which are compounded by life course events, people manage to sustain their creative careers. Interview questions were informed by a review of creative industries literature which paints a picture of challenging working conditions (e.g., precarity, long hours) which are also sites of 'inequality regimes' (Acker, 2006), meaning the industries studied are designed by and for white, middle-class men.

The data reveals interesting detail about the three fields of study, making it useful as a snapshot of the creative industries in the early 2020s. It is also filled with references to the Covid-19 pandemic lock downs, as this is when the interviews took place.

There is rich detail of 'inequality regimes' - particularly with reference to social class, gender, and age.

*The other 9 interviews are not included as participants did not give permission for them to be deposited with the UK Data Service.