Social Divisions in Accounts of Discrimination: Experiences among Performing Artists

In the performing arts, discrimination is a widely recognized issue occurring in relation to multiple social divisions. Through a qualitative analysis of personal stories of discrimination, we investigate the relationship between intersectional categories emerging in the telling and orientation of performing artists. Discrimination is tied to gatekeeping practices that are of varying significance to the artists depending on the power relationships between the parties concerned and the precariousness of the artists’ positions. Recognizing such experiences as discrimination requires an awareness of category relationships that can be implicit, explicit, or intrinsic. A sensitivity to these category relationships and the ways in which stories are constructed has important implications for promoting social justice among freelancers.