Selling Professionalism through Beauty: Aesthetic Labor in the Banking Sector

Abstract

Aesthetic labour in certain dynamics in the context of banking institutions was less explored. This empirical study discussed various aspects that revolve around aesthetic labour in terms of aesthetic commodification of banking employees in some of the banks in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The aim was to get a glimpse of the frontline banking officers lived experiences and how aesthetic labour and lookism work within commercial banks. The research methodology used in this study is qualitative research, and the primary research tool is semi-structured interviews. The target group consisted of 10 frontline banking professionals. The researcher used a non-probability sampling method which is snowball sampling to have in-depth insights of the participants and get thorough information about the participants' daily activities in their workplace. The interview data was analyzed in terms of thematic analysis to identify the themes and patterns in the data. Upholding high ethical standards, such as confidentiality and informed consent, underscored our commitment to ethical research practices. Male participants had relative neutrality and aesthetics for them are only basic neatness. While female participants described a rather stressful reality of the corporate structure. To them, it's more of a “professional tax” and they have to spend time and money to keep up with the look that's expected. This image is a balance of meeting corporate expectations plus cultural modesty. Finally, the study presents lookism as the primary means that banks use for the recruitment of people for commodification