Valerie Fournier | University of Leicester (original) (raw)

Papers by Valerie Fournier

M@n@gement, 2013

"Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organi... more "Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organising, and one that may have increased relevance as we get into deeper economic and ecological crisis. After exploring the ambivalent relationships between the commons and capitalism, the paper argues that the commons are best understood as a social process of organisation and production, rather than as a resource. It starts by considering the work of Elinor Ostrom which has been essential in demonstrating that the commons involve community, some collective organisation for sharing and preserving common resources. But Ostrom only considered part of the commons. She explored how communities organise in commons to share resources between individual members, but ignores the fact that commons may not just be distributed in common, but also used in commons, and in this process reproductive of community. The paper moves on to explore this process of organising for the commons and of the commons by drawing on three brief examples: a commune, a community of local residents reclaiming their neighbourhood, and a social centre. Using these examples, the paper then discusses the mode of organising underpinning the commons in terms of the production and distribution of use, and the reliance on the principle of ‘reciprocity in perpetuity’ (Pedersen, 2010). The conclusion suggests that considering the failure of the markets and states to address the crises in which we find ourselves, developing and understanding the commons become urgent tasks.
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The successful institutionalisation of Critical Management Studies is now beyond doubt; but the c... more The successful institutionalisation of Critical Management Studies is now beyond doubt; but the consequences of this process on the efficacy and legitimacy of critique are more contentious and require attention. Despite recent calls by senior critical scholars to make critique more relevant by engaging with pressing political and social issues and addressing a broader public, there have been few attempts to reflect upon the way our own personal positions and choices are implicated in the realities being denounced. Yet, we argue here that taking risk and making choices that would achieve some consistency between what we say and what we do, are essential elements of critique. We also explore what it would mean to make our critique more personal and give example of the choices we could make to bring some consistency between our critique and our personal position. abstract ephemera 12(4): 463-474 Making choice, taking risk notes Valerie Fournier and Warren Smith ephemera 12(4): 463-474 Making choice, taking risk notes

There is an increasingly familiar genre in gender and organization studies, one that draws upon p... more There is an increasingly familiar genre in gender and organization studies, one that draws upon poststructuralism to stress the fluidity, impermanence and multiplicity of gender identities. This genre seeks to move away from an essentialist and dualist analysis of men and women as biological beings, and instead focuses on the performative nature of gender identities, the ways these are produced, maintained, and can be disrupted. In this paper, we offer a critique of this 'masculinity genre' by arguing that its compulsory claims about fluidity and multiplicity are undermined by essentialist assumptions. Thus the masculinity genre seems to be ineluctably drawn back into reproducing enduring clichés that articulate femininity around stereotypical images of intimacy, caring for others, bodily engagement, and masculinity around control, competitiveness and instrumental rationality. Whilst we do not wish to undermine the significance of gender inequality, we suggest that the incoherence that plagues writing on masculinity obfuscates the analysis of gender oppression. The scripted language and soft rhetoric that are deployed have little purchase on 'hard' gender effects and the strength of feelings that gendered practices may elicit. abstract © 2006 ephemera 6(2): 141-162

M@n@gement, 2013

"Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organi... more "Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organising, and one that may have increased relevance as we get into deeper economic and ecological crisis. After exploring the ambivalent relationships between the commons and capitalism, the paper argues that the commons are best understood as a social process of organisation and production, rather than as a resource. It starts by considering the work of Elinor Ostrom which has been essential in demonstrating that the commons involve community, some collective organisation for sharing and preserving common resources. But Ostrom only considered part of the commons. She explored how communities organise in commons to share resources between individual members, but ignores the fact that commons may not just be distributed in common, but also used in commons, and in this process reproductive of community. The paper moves on to explore this process of organising for the commons and of the commons by drawing on three brief examples: a commune, a community of local residents reclaiming their neighbourhood, and a social centre. Using these examples, the paper then discusses the mode of organising underpinning the commons in terms of the production and distribution of use, and the reliance on the principle of ‘reciprocity in perpetuity’ (Pedersen, 2010). The conclusion suggests that considering the failure of the markets and states to address the crises in which we find ourselves, developing and understanding the commons become urgent tasks.
"

The successful institutionalisation of Critical Management Studies is now beyond doubt; but the c... more The successful institutionalisation of Critical Management Studies is now beyond doubt; but the consequences of this process on the efficacy and legitimacy of critique are more contentious and require attention. Despite recent calls by senior critical scholars to make critique more relevant by engaging with pressing political and social issues and addressing a broader public, there have been few attempts to reflect upon the way our own personal positions and choices are implicated in the realities being denounced. Yet, we argue here that taking risk and making choices that would achieve some consistency between what we say and what we do, are essential elements of critique. We also explore what it would mean to make our critique more personal and give example of the choices we could make to bring some consistency between our critique and our personal position. abstract ephemera 12(4): 463-474 Making choice, taking risk notes Valerie Fournier and Warren Smith ephemera 12(4): 463-474 Making choice, taking risk notes

There is an increasingly familiar genre in gender and organization studies, one that draws upon p... more There is an increasingly familiar genre in gender and organization studies, one that draws upon poststructuralism to stress the fluidity, impermanence and multiplicity of gender identities. This genre seeks to move away from an essentialist and dualist analysis of men and women as biological beings, and instead focuses on the performative nature of gender identities, the ways these are produced, maintained, and can be disrupted. In this paper, we offer a critique of this 'masculinity genre' by arguing that its compulsory claims about fluidity and multiplicity are undermined by essentialist assumptions. Thus the masculinity genre seems to be ineluctably drawn back into reproducing enduring clichés that articulate femininity around stereotypical images of intimacy, caring for others, bodily engagement, and masculinity around control, competitiveness and instrumental rationality. Whilst we do not wish to undermine the significance of gender inequality, we suggest that the incoherence that plagues writing on masculinity obfuscates the analysis of gender oppression. The scripted language and soft rhetoric that are deployed have little purchase on 'hard' gender effects and the strength of feelings that gendered practices may elicit. abstract © 2006 ephemera 6(2): 141-162