Extreme wellness at work

Whose body counts in the rise of exceptionalist organisational fitness cultures

Bibliographic Data

ID20500007
AuthorsTim Butcher (0000-0002-8425-5961, University of Tasmania, corresponding author), Eric P James (0000-0003-1173-3923, Metropolitan State University of Denver), Peter Bloom (0000-0003-2225-6149, University of Essex)
Year2023
Volume30
Issue3
Pages453-472
Publication date2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOrganization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1350-5084 • E-ISSN: 1461-7323
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/13505084221131633
OpenAlexW4362633906
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited60

Management has long concerned itself with controlling workers’ bodies, with organisational wellness discourses being its latest fixation. This article’s purpose is to introduce and understand ‘whose body counts’ – a discourse of bodily exceptionalism in performative organisational cultures. Using ethnographic methods, this article presents an analysis of a CrossFit workplace health promotion at an underperforming US corporation, to identify a complex process of empowerment, self-exploitation and disciplinary regulation to produce performative outcomes. This research illustrates how the workplace health promotion generates a pervasive discourse of exceptionalism underpinned by workers’ reflexive exploitation, overarched by peer-surveillance and reflexively embraced through extreme individualised performativities. Critically, it is revealed how individuals competitively engage in communicative labour to demonstrate devotion to self-care that is translated into organisational commitment. Specifically, unquestioned discursive ambiguities are shown to cunningly empower limitlessness meritocratic striving that pits workers against each other, creating constant negotiation of ‘whose body counts’ by subjugating others

Aesthetics · Critical discourse analysis · Empowerment · Exceptionalism · Organizational culture · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Emotional Labor in Professions · Gender Studies · Law · Management and Organizational Studies

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access