Professionalisation, recognition and identity redefinition: Tattoo Artists between subculture and standardisation

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Author/s Norma Baldino, Margherita Sabrina Perra
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2025/173
Language Italian Pages 24 P. 129-152 File size 392 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2025-173007
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This article analyses the professionalisation processes of tattooing based on qual-itative research conducted in Cagliari, as part of a broader ethnographic study carried out between 2018 and 2023. The contribution focuses on tattoo artists who devel-oped their practice within subcultural networks linked to punk, skateboarding and DIY attitudes. The analysis shows that professionalisation does not coincide with normative institutionalisation and the standardisation of training pathways, but ra-ther takes shape as a continuum between forms of self and hetero-recognition, nego-tiated through craft practices, community relations, shared subcultural codes and everyday work organisation. The analysis highlights a redefinition of the group’s identity and professional boundaries as an hybrid space between art, craft and regu-lated profession, where the recognition of work is constructed through the tension between subcultural belonging, standardisation and internal self-regulation prac-tices.

Keywords: Work professionalisation; Professional identity; Tattooing; Subcul-tures.

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Norma Baldino, Margherita Sabrina Perra, Processi di professionalizzazione, riconoscimento e ridefinizione identitaria: tatuatori e tatuatrici tra sottocultura e standardizzazione in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 173/2025, pp 129-152, DOI: 10.3280/SL2025-173007