Paid, domestic, and emotional work in the precariat: Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You

• Published in: Feminist media studies Vol. 22; no. 5; pp. 1195 - 1210
• Main Authors: Goodall, Zoë, Cook, Kay
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 04.07.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: emotional labour; Employment; Housework; Insecure; Ken Loach; Loach, Ken; Motion pictures; Precariat; precarious work; second shift; Work
• ISSN: 1468-0777; 1471-5902
• DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2021.1879194

Sorry We Missed You, directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty, focuses on precarious work in modern Britain and its effects on a working-class nuclear family. Both Ricky (Kris Hitchen), the father, and Abby (Debbie Honeywood), the mother, work gruelling jobs that arguably situate them within the precariat. However, Loach and Laverty also draw attention to the gendered differences between Ricky's and Abby's situations. Drawing on the works of both Guy Standing and Arlie Russell Hochschild, we analyse Abby's three domains of work as represented in the film: her paid work, which is precarious in similar ways to her husband's; her domestic work, where she undertakes disproportionate care for their children; and her emotional work, which is required both at home and in her employment. In our analysis, we contend that Loach and Laverty do emphasise the ways Abby's experience of precarious work is different due to being a woman and mother, however, the film's ending deprioritises Abby's struggles.