Metatheorizing the Dialectic of Self and Other

The Psychodynamics in Work Organizations

Bibliographic Data

ID3756474
AuthorsAdrian Carr (University of Western Sydney, Nepean, Australia), Lisa A Zanetti (University of Missouri)
Year1999
Volume43
Issue2
Pages324-345
Publication date1999-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027649921955281
OpenAlexW1968367702
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited41

Western thought is imbued with thinking based on dichotomy and binary opposition. Embedded in this thinking, however, are not only oppositions but hierarchy. The existence of binaries suggests a struggle for predominance. One proposition must prevail, and the other must be vanquished. The fields of organization behavior and administrative theory reflect this form of rationality. The terms self and other have been cast as constituent elements of the human condition, but the presumption is that self must necessarily be privileged more than other. The authors disagree that such a privileging must occur. Instead, they contend that self and other are mutually constituted. The central focus of this article is an exploration of the self-other relationship that highlights its dialectic nature and, in so doing, provides a deeper appreciation of how these dynamics are manifested in work organizations as elements of trust, ethics, and mourning

Binary opposition · Dialectic · Economics · Epistemology · Focus (optics) · Hierarchy · Opposition (politics) · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Presumption · Proposition · Rationality · Self · Sociology · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Management Theory and Practice · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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