THE REPUTATION ECONOMY. CREATIVE LABOUR AND FREELANCE NETWORKS

In the last decades a large number of what have been called “creative” and “cultural” industries flourished all over Western neoliberal economy. These can be broadly defined as industries in which economic value is generated through mechanisms of valorization of knowledge, innovation and creativity (DCMS 1998, 2001; Hesmondhalgh 2002; Florida, 2002; Hesmondhalgh and Pratt 2005; Pratt 2008). This has a wide range of both theoretical and practical implications. Among many, the present research focuses on the diffusion of freelance work in this sector. With the term “freelance” I intend a form of self-organized work, not subject to a formally stable and continuous dependent relationship with a single firm or employer (McRobbie 2002; Christopherson 2002, 2008). This thesis discusses to what extent reputation emerges as the key factor over skills, education and trust, to determine the income of creative independent professionals both offline and online, such that it becomes possible to argue on the existence of a 'reputation economy'. This hypothesis will be discussed through the study of two informal networks of creative freelancers in Milan and London, combined with the analysis of an international online marketplace dedicated to independent contractors.