Webcam Modelling: Politics of sensibilities in the Subjectivity-Labour relationships in scientific publications between 2010 and 2023

Abstract

Camming (or webcam modelling) is an emergent occupation in the context of three highly significant fields in
the study of the subjectivity-labour relationship in neoliberalism: flexibilisation and digitalisation of labour, commodification of emotional experiences, and predominance of the "entrepreneur of the self" in modes
of subjectivation. This integrative review aims to explore how research involving webcam models clarifies
and expands upon the conflicts identified in the subjectivity-labour relationship. A total of 50 materials
were analysed, including research articles, book chapters, and master's and doctoral theses. These were
organised into four thematic lines: identity aspects; emotions and relationships; production of authenticity;
and the relationship between flexibility and empowerment. The concept of the politics of sensibilities,
drawn from the sociology of bodies-emotions, proves useful for integrating the identified thematic axes in
a transversal manner. These findings can be interpreted in terms of the global market's role in constructing
a moral economy around the body, sexuality, and relational capacities, which, in turn, operationalises a
policy that leads webcam workers to employ mechanisms of self-regulation of sensations and mechanisms
of tolerability.