Identity Work and Meaning Arena

Beyond Actor/Structure and Micro/Macro Distinctions in an Empirical Analysis of IT Workers

Bibliographic Data

ID3759564
AuthorsAnn Westenholz (Copenhagen Business School, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume49
Issue7
Pages1015-1029
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764205285183
OpenAlexW2072171822
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

A dominant sociological argument asserts that changes in working life and society in general have affected our identities, with the result of increased individualization and the decline of the "organizational man." The author is critical of this epochalist claim and argues that it is important to design an approach to analyzing the identities and telling the stories of the current transformation of work and identities that recognizes the processes within working life. This proposal goes beyond a grand-scale epochalist claim about the consequences of the transformation to a postmodern area of identity. As an alternative, the author suggests an analysis of identities, drawing on a relational and social constructivist paradigm. She examines how workers employ elements from widespread identity stories as "raw material" when negotiating emerging identities. Drawing on a qualitative study within the information technology field, the author illustrates what such an analysis of emerging identities might look like

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis) · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Identity (music) · Meaning (existential) · Negotiation · Postmodernism · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Knowledge Management and Sharing · Management and Organizational Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub