Border work. Resisting commodification in the workplace (and elsewhere)

Bibliographic Data

ID21159230
AuthorsGertraud Koch (0000-0002-2457-3335, Universität Hamburg, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume19
Issue4
Pages353-367
Publication date2013-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture and Organization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-9551 • E-ISSN: 1477-2760
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14759551.2013.827424
OpenAlexW2053908899
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

In the effort to identify and criticize the problems of the current neoliberal developments in their infiltration of modern life-worlds, often the actual point of the critics has moved into the background: humane behaviour and the capacity to insist on it is hardly studied. This capacity to insist is at the centre of this contribution, both as individual action as well as in its structural dimension. Building on an example of border work by a training officer in a medium-sized German company to address the alienation of an apprentice, this paper will theorize about: (a) the ontological quality and the social practice of such acts of protecting another person against alienation and (b) the social ambiance and structures that allow (if not encourage) this protective action. The individual, the situational and the social structures for unconditional giving, commonly understood as altruism, are sketched. Border work against alienating marketization becomes apparent as a worthwhile subject for socio-critical research

Alienation · Apprenticeship · Commodification · Corporatization · Economics · Epistemology · Marketization · Political science · Public relations · Situational ethics · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Sociology and Education Studies

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