Making it Together: communities of care in Scotland’s craft ecology – Maker-led organisations and the prospects for good work and social impact in the creative and cultural industries

James-Beith, Rosemary (2026) Making it Together: communities of care in Scotland’s craft ecology – Maker-led organisations and the prospects for good work and social impact in the creative and cultural industries. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role and impact of maker-led organisations within Scotland's craft ecology through qualitative multi-sited case studies of three national craft organisations. Drawing on Hesmondhalgh and Baker's concept of 'good work,' (2011) the research examines how these organisations enhance individual maker experiences of craft work and generate broader social impacts within the creative and cultural industries. Through analysis of participant interviews, field observations, and organisational documents, the study reveals these organisations serve as crucial intermediaries of care, reducing maker isolation and developing collective responses to systemic challenges, while simultaneously advocating for craft's broader social value.

The findings, drawing on the work of Tronto (1998), demonstrate maker-led organisations act as communities of care-practice. They generate caring other-oriented behaviours, enhance skills and competencies that improve both the quality of craft work and the capacity to maintain common infrastructures, creating surplus social value in the process. However, the research also identifies significant challenges, including inequitable access to support structures, and sustainability concerns stemming from reduced cultural funding, aging memberships, and reducing volunteer labour that largely underpins their operation. This research argues that these organisations exemplify an alternative to growth-focused industrial production models, demonstrating how practice-led peer communities can address needs unmet by current policy frameworks. It draws attention to the deficiencies of the creative industries policy context that views creative individuals as the primary producers of social and economic value, and often disregards non-financial exchange, and collective endeavours.

This research proposes maker-led organisations could, if provided with enhanced status and resources, better develop and maintain both craft and non-craft infrastructures for the common good. This thesis illuminates the extra/ordinary characteristics of care ethics in practice-led communities. It points to the generative role of care as a theoretical framework to explore nonfinancial value exchange and hidden organisational practices within the creative and cultural industries more broadly.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported in part by the William and Margaret Kesson Scholarship 2021/22.
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts
• Supervisor's Name: Selfe, Dr. Melanie and Banks, Professor Mark
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-85823
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Mar 2026 11:06
• Last Modified: 19 Mar 2026 12:00
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85823