Research suggests that cultural goods with high symbolic value typically command significant market value. However, the occupational precarity of artists and creative workers remains pervasive. Alongside symbolic value, the market value of creative works depends on the power dynamics within the social relations sustaining artists’ employment. Despite this, research has focused primarily on structural vulnerabilities, like intermittent and seasonal employment, to explain occupational precarity. To explore how relations between marginalized artists and socially advantaged audiences affect artists’ occupational precarity, we studied the Bauls, a group of lower-caste folk performers from India. This ethnographic study finds that upper-caste audiences commodify the Bauls by establishing hegemonic employment relationships and disregarding their relational identity. This relational aspect introduces what we term "relational precarity," where vulnerability stems from hierarchical social relations. Our findings contribute to the occupational precarity literature by highlighting the often-overlooked role of social relations in contributing to it, emphasizing the continuing relevance of caste identities in South Asian labor markets, uniquely positioning commodification as a precursor to relational precarity, and seeking to decolonize its existing understanding by acknowledging the complexities of identities in the Global South.
