The term ‘aesthetic labour’ first appeared in 1999 from Dr Chris Warhurst and his team at the University of Strathclyde. Attempts are made to link the concept of aesthetic labour with the medieval Italian concept of sprezzatura. Also implicit, but not developed in this paper are decisions around the allocation of training resources to favoured employees. A different approach to ethics is introduced. The central question of this paper is as follows: ‘Do sprezzatura and aesthetic labour, in combination, have any relevance to contexts of work today?’ The nature of power in Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power has to.
