scholarly journals The Spectacle and Organization Studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1625-1643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikkel Flyverbom ◽  
Juliane Reinecke
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Brand Image ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Organizational Life ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
The Real ◽  
Society Of The Spectacle ◽  
Theatrical Performances

The aim of this essay is to revisit Guy Debord’s critical theory of the spectacle as formulated 50 years ago in the ‘Society of the Spectacle’ in light of the contemporary production of spectacles. Debord’s arguments about appearance, visibility and celebrity are echoed in the way organizations increasingly focus on their brand, image, impression, and reputation. Yet, the role of spectacles in organizational life has remained under-researched in organization studies. As the boundaries between fact and fiction, reality and representation, substance and appearance become increasingly blurred, questions about the production and effects of spectacles seem more pertinent than ever. Are representations faithful mirrors of reality, or attempts to conceal reality? Do they replace reality, or bring new realities into being? By articulating three possible understandings of the spectacle, as fetishism, hyper-reality or performativity, this essay invites organization scholars to examine the organization of the real and the making of organizations through processes of spectacular representation including discursive practices, visual images and theatrical performances.

scholarly journals Adorno’s grey, Taussig’s blue: Colour, organization and critical affect

Organization ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timon Beyes ◽  
Christian De Cock
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Organizational Life ◽  
Blue Colour ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Critical Potential ◽  
Organizational Scholarship ◽  
Primary Phenomenon

In this article, we seek to open up the study of affect and organization to colour. Often simply taken for granted in organizational life and usually neglected in organizational thought, colour is an affective force by default. Deploying and interweaving the languages of affect theory, critical theory and organization studies, we discuss colour as a primary phenomenon for the study of ‘critical affect’. We then trace colour’s affect in conditioning the unfolding of organization in two particular ‘colour/spaces’ – Adorno’s grey and Taussig’s blue of our title – and discuss both its ambiguity and critical potential. Finally, we ponder what colour might do to the style of an organizational scholarship attuned to affect, where sentences blur with things and forces more than they seek to represent them.

scholarly journals Work as affective experience: The contribution of Christophe Dejours’ ‘psychodynamics of work’

Organization ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parisa Dashtipour ◽  
Bénédicte Vidaillet
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
The Body ◽  
Organizational Life ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Leadership Motivation ◽  
Work Tasks ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

Psychoanalytic perspectives (such as the Kleinian/Bionian and Lacanian literature) have made significant contributions to the study of affect in organizations. While some have pointed out the affects involved in work tasks, most of this literature generally focuses on the affects linked to organizational life (such as learning, leadership, motivation, power, or change). The center of attention is not on affects associated with the work process itself. We draw from the French psychodynamic theory of Christophe Dejours—who is yet to be known in English language organization studies—to make the following contributions. First, we show the relationship between affect and working by discussing Dejours’ notions of affective suffering, the real of work, the significance of the body, and ‘ordinary sublimation’. Second, we advance critical research in organization studies by demonstrating the centrality of work in the affective life of the subject. Third, the article reinterprets Menzies’ well-known hospital case study to illustrate how Dejours’ theory extends existing psychoanalytical approaches, and especially to point to the significant role of the work collective in supporting workers to work well. We conclude by suggesting that if the centrality of work in the affective life of the subject is acknowledged, it follows that resistance strategies, and work collectives’ struggle for emancipation, should focus on reclaiming work.

NURTURING OF CHILDREN THROUGH DRAMA AND THEATRE: THE CASE OF INTWASA KOBULAWAYO PERFORMANCES

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-99
Author(s):  
Vimbai Moreblessing Matiza
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Theatrical Performances ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

Dramatic and theatrical performances have a long history of being used as tools to enhance development in children and youth. In pre-colonial times there were some forms of drama and theatre used by different communities in the socialisation of children. It is in the same vein that this article, through the Intwasa koBulawayo performances, seeks to evaluate how drama and theatre are used to nurture children and youth into different developmental facets of their lives. The only difference which this article will take into cognisance is that the performances are done in a different environment, which is not the one used in the pre-colonial times. Although these performances were like this, the most important factor is the idea that children and youth are socialised through these performances. It is also against this backdrop that children and youth are growing up in a globalised environment, hence the performances should accommodate people from all walks of life and teach them relevant issues pertaining to life as they live it now. Thus the main task of the article is to spell out the role of drama and theatre in the nurturing of children and youth through socio economic and political development in Intwasa koBulawayo festivals.

EVERYDAY PRACTICE OF MOTHERS IN A PROVINCIAL SOVIET CITY IN THE 1950–60S

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-51
Author(s):  
Irina V. Bogdashina
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Working Mother ◽  
Material Wealth ◽  
The Real ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Diffi Cult ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Right

The article reveals the measures undertaken by the Soviet state during the “thaw” in the fi eld of reproductive behaviour, the protection of motherhood and childhood. Compilations, manuals and magazines intended for women were the most important regulators of behaviour, determining acceptable norms and rules. Materials from sources of personal origin and oral history make it possible to clearly demonstrate the real feelings of women. The study of women’s everyday and daily life in the aspect related to pregnancy planning, bearing and raising children will allow us to compare the real situation and the course of implementation of tasks in the fi eld of maternal and child health. The demographic surge in the conditions of the economy reviving after the war, the lack of preschool institutions, as well as the low material wealth of most families, forced women to adapt to the situation. In the conditions of combining the roles of mother, wife and female worker, women entrusted themselves with almost overwork, which affected the health and well-being of the family. The procedure for legalising abortion gave women not only the right to decide the issue of motherhood themselves, but also made open the already necessary, but harmful to health, habitual way of birth control. Maternal care in diffi cult material and housing conditions became the concern of women and the older generation, who helped young women to combine the role of a working mother, which the country’s leadership confi dently assigned to women.

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