Book•
The New Spirit of Capitalism
01 Jan 2005-
TL;DR: A century after the publication of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism, a major new work examines network-based organization, employee autonomy and post-Fordist horizontal work structures.
Abstract: A century after the publication of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism, a major new work examines network-based organization, employee autonomy and post-Fordist horizontal work structures.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce a special section concerned with precariousness and cultural work, bringing into dialogue three bodies of ideas: the work of the autonomous Marxist laboratory, activist writings about precariousness, and the emerging empirical scholarship concerned with the distinctive features of cultural work.
Abstract: This article introduces a special section concerned with precariousness and cultural work. Its aim is to bring into dialogue three bodies of ideas — the work of the autonomous Marxist `Italian laboratory'; activist writings about precariousness and precarity; and the emerging empirical scholarship concerned with the distinctive features of cultural work, at a moment when artists, designers and (new) media workers have taken centre stage as a supposed `creative class' of model entrepreneurs. The article is divided into three sections. It starts by introducing the ideas of the autonomous Marxist tradition, highlighting arguments about the autonomy of labour, informational capitalism and the `factory without walls', as well as key concepts such as multitude and immaterial labour. The impact of these ideas and of Operaismo politics more generally on the precarity movement is then considered in the second section, discussing some of the issues that have animated debate both within and outside this movement, wh...
1,001 citations
Additional excerpts
...…society, ‘new economy’, ‘new capitalism’ and risk society (see Bauman, 2000, 2005; Beck, 2000; Beck and Ritter, 1992; Beck et al., 2000; Bell, 1973; Boltanski and Chiapello, 2005; Castells, 1996; Lash and Urry, 1993; Reich, 2000; Sennett, 1998, 2006; Theory, Culture & Society has also been…...
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...The last decades have seen a variety of attempts to make sense of the broad changes in contemporary capitalism that have given rise to this – through discussions of shifts relating to post-Fordism, post-industrialization, network society, liquid modernity, information society, ‘new economy’, ‘new capitalism’ and risk society (see Bauman, 2000, 2005; Beck, 2000; Beck and Ritter, 1992; Beck et al., 2000; Bell, 1973; Boltanski and Chiapello, 2005; Castells, 1996; Lash and Urry, 1993; Reich, 2000; Sennett, 1998, 2006; Theory, Culture & Society has also been an important forum for these debates)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between the consensual presentation and mainstreaming of the global problem of climate change on the one hand and the debate in political theory/philosophy that centers around the emergence and consolidation of a post-political and post-democratic condition on the other.
Abstract: This article interrogates the relationship between two apparently disjointed themes: the consensual presentation and mainstreaming of the global problem of climate change on the one hand and the debate in political theory/philosophy that centers around the emergence and consolidation of a post-political and post-democratic condition on the other. The argument advanced in this article attempts to tease out this apparently paradoxical condition. On the one hand, the climate is seemingly politicized as never before and has been propelled high on the policy agenda. On the other hand, a number of increasingly influential political philosophers insist on how the post-politicization (or de-politicization) of the public sphere (in parallel and intertwined with processes of neoliberalization) have been key markers of the political process over the past few decades. We proceed in four steps. First, we briefly outline the basic contours of the argument and its premises. Second, we explore the ways in which the present climate conundrum is predominantly staged through the mobilization of particular apocalyptic imaginaries. Third, we argue that this specific (re-)presentation of climate change and its associated policies is sustained by decidedly populist gestures. Finally, we discuss how this particular choreographing of climate change is one of the arenas through which a post-political frame and post-democratic political configuration have been mediated.
989 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that global value chains are becoming increasingly "buyer-driven" even though they are characterized by "hands-off" forms of co-ordination between "lead firms" and their immediate suppliers.
Abstract: Convention theory helps refine our understanding of the governance of global value chains through its analysis of ‘quality’. In this article, it is argued that global value chains are becoming increasingly ‘buyer-driven’, even though they are characterized by ‘hands-off’ forms of co-ordination between ‘lead firms’ and their immediate suppliers. This is because lead firms have been able to embed complex quality information into widely accepted standards and codification and certification procedures. As suggested by convention theory, their success in doing so has depended on defining and managing value chain-specific quality attributes that are attuned to broader narratives about quality that circulate within society more generally.
805 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that contemporary tendencies to economize public domains and methods of government also produce tendencies to moralize markets in general and business enterprises in particular, and that the moralization of markets further sustains, rather than undermines, neo-liberal governmentalities and vision of civil society, citizenship and responsible social action.
Abstract: This article explores emerging discursive formations concerning the relationship of business and morality. It suggests that contemporary tendencies to economize public domains and methods of government also dialectically produce tendencies to moralize markets in general and business enterprises in particular. The article invokes the concept of ‘responsibilization’ as means of accounting for the epistemological and practical consequences of such processes. Looking at the underlying ‘market rationality’ of governance, and critically examining the notion of ‘corporate social responsibility’, it concludes that the moralization of markets further sustains, rather than undermining, neo-liberal governmentalities and neo-liberal visions of civil society, citizenship and responsible social action.
764 citations
Cites background from "The New Spirit of Capitalism"
...At the workplace, he argues, a successful career now depends on the responsibilized employee: a creative and innovative person who nurtures his or her own ‘employability’ on the basis of his or her entrepreneurial and networking skills (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2006)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the notion of "economization", which refers to the assembly and qualification of actions, devices and analytical/practical descriptions as "economic" by social scientists and market actors.
Abstract: This article proposes a research programme devoted to examining ‘processes of economization’. In the current instalment we introduce the notion of ‘economization’, which refers to the assembly and qualification of actions, devices and analytical/practical descriptions as ‘economic’ by social scientists and market actors. Through an analysis of selected works in anthropology, economics and sociology, we begin by discussing the importance, meaning and framing of economization, as we unravel its trace within a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. We show how in combination, these works have laid the foundations for the study of economization. The second instalment of the article, to appear in the next volume of Economy and Society, presents a preliminary picture of what it might mean to take processes of economization as a topic of empirical investigation. Given the vast terrain of relationships that produce its numerous trajectories, we will illustrate economization by focusing on only one of its m...
707 citations
Cites background from "The New Spirit of Capitalism"
...…list of elements conceived of by sociologists as dissolving economic relationships into the social grows by the day: after culture, norms and interpersonal relations, it is now individual emotions or even collective spirit that give capitalism the strength it needs (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2005)....
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References
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01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: The Mappa Mundi d'Albi as discussed by the authors is a carte du monde datant du VIIIème siècle datant de la même époque.
Abstract: En mars 2014, la Communauté d’agglomération de l’albigeois a déposé un dossier de demande d’inscription de la Mappa Mundi au registre de la mémoire du monde de l’UNESCO, dont la réponse est attendue courant 2016. Cette carte du monde provient d’un recueil de textes, miscellanea, où elle est suivie d’un Index des vents et des mers, le tout datant du VIIIème siècle. Elle a fait partie des manuscrits qui ont constitué la bibliothèque du chapitre de la cathédrale d’Albi, et est actuellement conservée dans les fonds de la médiathèque Pierre Amalric. Cette Mappa Mundi d’Albi est l’une des deux plus anciennes cartes connues représentant le monde dans sa globalité et de manière non abstraite, avec la Mappa Mundi du Vatican datant de la même époque.
18 citations
TL;DR: Reflexion epistemologique sur l'articulation des differentes composantes de l'entreprise for une approche sociologique des changements dans l'organisation industrielle as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Reflexion epistemologique sur l'articulation des differentes composantes de l'entreprise pour une approche sociologique des changements dans l'organisation industrielle. Lecture critique des articles de P. Veltz & P. Zarifian et J-L. Laville dans lesquels les AA. postulent un changement actuel de modele socio-productif.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a set of "Nah-Niederlassungen" in the automotive industry, i.e., situations in which the Hersteller do not qualifiziert oder wenig entwicklungsfahig angesehene Arbeitsplatze ab, die sie aus ihren Werkstatten auszuschlielsen wunschen, sondern in der Regel dem Personal aufgezwungene Produktionserhohungen
Abstract: Zwiespaltigkeiten der Nahe. ; Mehr und mehr uberlassen Automobilhersteller Zuliefererbetrieben Produktionen, die sie vormals ausschlieslich selbst betrieben. Die Nutznieser dieser neuen Markte haben sich dabei zeitlich dermasen knapp bemessenenen Lieferbedingungen zu unterwerfen, das sie dazu gebracht sind, sich als sogenannte « Nah-Niederlassungen » unmittelbar beim Montagewerk des Autoherstellers ihren Standort zu suchen. Derart sind in Frankreich zwischen 1988 und 1994 vierund-dreisig Zulieferbetriebe der Automobilindustrie entstanden, und sechsundzwanzig darunter sind 1993 und 1994 untersucht worden. Indem sie ihren Lieferanten fur manche Montage - und Endfertigungsarbeiten die Verantwortlichkeit uberlassen, stosen die Hersteller als nicht qualifiziert oder wenig entwicklungsfahig angesehene Arbeitsplatze ab, die sie aus ihren Werkstatten auszuschlielsen wunschen. Sie uberlassen den Zulieferem die Rekrutierung und Beschaftigung eines spezifischen Arbeitskraftepotentials, das am besten geeignet ist, ihren Forderungen nach Qualitat, Produktivitat und Fristgerechtigkeit zu entsprechen. In einer Zeit uberreichlichen Arbeitsangebots an jungem Personal mit Allgemeinbildungs-Schulniveau, das uber keinerlei Industrie - und Gewerkschaftskultur verfugt, war es moglich, mit Fristgerechtigkeit verbundene organisatorische Innovationen ohne Proteste durchzusetzen. Diese vom Toyota-Modell angeregte Produktionsorganisation fuhrt fortwahrend standiges und zeitweiliges (namentlich teilzeitbeschaftigtes) Personal zusammen, dessen Fahigkeiten wenig oder nur kaum geschatzt werden, und der Widerspruch zwischen den Anforderungen und den dafur gebotenen Gegenleistungen, sei es auf dem Gebiet der Sicherheit des Arbeitsplatzes, der Einstufung oder Bezahlung, sind betrachtlich. Im grofsten Teil dieser « Nah-Niederlassungen » sind mangels Gewerkschaften und des erheblichen Kundendrucks die Wandlungen nicht Anlas zu reellen Verhandlungen mit den Personalvertretern, sondern in der Regel dem Personal aufgezwungene Produktionserhohungen.
16 citations