Anthropology of Work Research Papers (original) (raw)
This article offers a critical take on the excessive use of psychological applications in the work sphere, that is, management techniques that open up the psyche of the individual employee to interceptions, evaluations, and manipulations... more
This article offers a critical take on the excessive use of psychological applications in the work sphere, that is, management techniques that open up the psyche of the individual employee to interceptions, evaluations, and manipulations by superiors. It builds upon existing work on the psychologization of labor under the aegis of human resource apparatuses and contributes to it by centralizing the role that confessions have in this process. The article details the careers of Fehim and Halil, both Turkish-Dutch officers working for a Dutch police agency.The field data, which have been obtained through an ethnographic fieldwork between 2008 and 2013, offer an insight into how psychological applications (such as personal development plans, "fireplace sessions," empowerment courses, personality surveys, etc.) affect labor relations. The analysis opens up pathways for a better understanding of ethnic inequality in the workplace.
The work that is represented here demonstrates the importance of what we do in learning to work in professional settings of various sorts. Learning-in-context through experience and action is so essential that it is normalized and taken... more
The work that is represented here demonstrates the importance of what we do in learning to work in professional settings of various sorts. Learning-in-context through experience and action is so essential that it is normalized and taken for granted, accepted as part of "the real world," not needing explanation or intervention. The articles in this issue describe and explain learning-inaction. Each of the articles in this special issue demonstrates that no matter the style of teaching/learning and context, we must increasingly become aware of the unintended outcomes of the processes involved. The articles emphasize the simultaneity of work, learning, and teaching. The authors discuss how work experience is represented and the nature of reflection, the ways through which work confidence and competency are constructed in situated activities, and how work practice is transmitted by mentors and reproduced by novices through a process of transition.
Over the last decades, women’s participation in the labour market has significantly increased. However, women are often paid less than men and are over-represented in part-time and informal jobs, facing gender barriers in their careers. A... more
Over the last decades, women’s participation in the labour market has significantly increased. However, women are often paid less than men and are over-represented in part-time and informal jobs, facing gender barriers in their careers. A number of researchers have emphasized the flexible role of women in the labor market, while attempting to analyse the gender discrimination and sexist prejudices in the business environment through the notion of “glass ceiling”. “Glass Ceiling” is a term used to describe the “invisible” barriers that women face within their workplace. In this article, I attempt to highlight, through my ethnographic example in a door to door marketing company in Thessaloniki (Greece), the relationship between women and entrepreneurship, as well as the way in which the phenomenon of “glass ceiling” exists and affects women’s work. My research is based on the methods of participant observation, self-observation, reflexivity, formal and informal interviews, as well as the use of audiovisual material.
What happens when market crisis and neoliberal reorganization hit a local industrial district, renowned for its social and political cohesion? This chapter is based on a diachronic perspective and interviews with entrepreneurs, workers,... more
What happens when market crisis and neoliberal reorganization hit a local industrial district, renowned for its social and political cohesion? This chapter is based on a diachronic perspective and interviews with entrepreneurs, workers, trade unionists and institutional representatives of the Valdelsa district between Florence and Siena. It examines the radically diverging local interpretations of the crisis of the furniture industries during the Nineteen-eighties and the recent market crisis of chassis for motorized caravans. A comparison of the two crises, considering also the “colonization” of the district by multinational companies, reveals a process of dis-embeddedness of the socio-political dimensions, resulting in a more hierarchical structure of what was once considered a model of socially integrated capitalism.
This article describes the transformations of work-discipline and time in a large Romanian state bank privatized to a European bank in the early 2000s. Building on ethnographies of skilled service workers' experience of time, I describe... more
This article describes the transformations of work-discipline and time in a large Romanian state bank privatized to a European bank in the early 2000s. Building on ethnographies of skilled service workers' experience of time, I describe the sudden process of disciplining the post-socialist workforce and the instilling of a new sense of daily routine. Based on data collected from middle managers, human resources personnel and socialist-era employees, I describe the post-privatization transformations of time and work. These include a sharper separation of work and life, greater standardization of time-keeping, individualization of work space, colonization of personal time by organizational time, and the dumping of personal plans into an indefinite future. The mixture of perpetual, high-paced present and a diffuse ''long-term'' future where meaningful plans and self-promises are located might be called ''fantasy time.''
There is considerable discourse about the disappearing social contract between employers and employees. Given the dislocations associated with a global risk economy, neither seniority nor high productivity now guarantees job security.... more
There is considerable discourse about the disappearing social contract between employers and employees. Given the dislocations associated with a global risk economy, neither seniority nor high productivity now guarantees job security. Instead, contemporary employees are increasingly encouraged Anthropology of Work Review
Prozesse der Integration und Ausgrenzung. Türkische Migranten der zweiten Generation [Processes of integration and marginalization. Second-generation Turkish migrants]. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften Rauf Ceylan 2006:... more
Prozesse der Integration und Ausgrenzung. Türkische Migranten der zweiten Generation [Processes of integration and marginalization. Second-generation Turkish migrants]. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften Rauf Ceylan 2006: Ethnische Kolonien. Entstehung, Funktion und Wandel am Beispiel türkischer Moscheen und Cafés [Ethnic colonies. Their foundation, function and change as exemplified by Turkish mosques and cafés]. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Este artículo sintetiza resultados de una investigación etnográfica en curso con una cooperativa de vendedores ambulantes del Ferrocarril San Martín que integran la Confederación de los Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (CTEP). Aun... more
Este artículo sintetiza resultados de una investigación etnográfica en curso con una cooperativa de vendedores ambulantes del Ferrocarril San Martín que integran la Confederación de los Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (CTEP). Aun cuando la cooperativa se conformó en el año 2015, los vendedores del tren han mantenido, a través de generaciones, “códigos de vida” que organizan su actividad, dentro de las que cobran centralidad las relaciones de parentesco, incluyendo la forma en que la idea de familia es empleada para hablar de los vínculos que se tejen en “el fierro”, tal como prefieren denominar al tren. Este proceso de formalización como cooperativa se vuelve inteligibile a la luz de un proceso más amplio de producción y disputa de formas de reconocimiento, protección, bienestares y derechos colectivos como trabajadores en el marco de la CTEP, dentro del que se destaca la implementación del Salario Social Complementario. En este artículo, me propongo analizar la dinámica de este proceso de organización y la implementación de esta política en un territorio particular marcado por la movilidad de las personas, los vínculos, las prácticas y los espacios que lo producen. Por una parte, esta condición desafía las formas modales de hacer política que caracterizan las organizaciones marco en las cuales la cooperativa se inserta. Por otro, la implementación de esta política desborda los límites del espacio del tren como territorio para proyectar y construir vínculos desde y hacia los barrios donde habitan los vendedores. Atendiendo a estas dos dimensiones, me propongo reflexionar sobre la heterogeneidad de los territorios en los que se despliegan las formas de organización de la economía popular con relación a las políticas públicas destinadas a esta población.
What do you need to do to get a job in this digital age? Do you need a LinkedIn profile? Are hiring managers looking for your personal brand? Job-seekers in post-recession America struggle with these questions as hiring and the nature... more
What do you need to do to get a job in this digital age? Do you need a LinkedIn profile? Are hiring managers looking for your personal brand? Job-seekers in post-recession America struggle with these questions as hiring and the nature of work changes. Even as unemployment rates begin to fall, contract and freelance work is on the rise, and job tenures are short– the current median tenure is 4.6 years. These changes in technologies and work follow a historical shift in how Americans understand the work contract. Under contemporary capitalism, people increasingly see themselves in business terms: they are the “CEO of Me”. In this perspective, hiring resembles a business-to-business contract, a short-term connection centered upon solving market-specific problems. To be employable you must represent yourself as a business of one, willing to temporarily assist other larger businesses. This raises new ethical challenges about what is a just work relationship. It has not been an easy transition for many looking for jobs, especially when combined with all the new technologies for hiring. This book examines how applying for jobs has transformed in the past 30 years because of new media and new concepts of work.
In recent years, scholars have turned to Bourdieu's model of precariousness to understand workers' experiences under neoliberal capitalism. Here I look at Bourdieu's ideas in relation to China's most famous porcelain production site: the... more
In recent years, scholars have turned to Bourdieu's model of precariousness to understand workers' experiences under neoliberal capitalism. Here I look at Bourdieu's ideas in relation to China's most famous porcelain production site: the city of Jingdezhen. Bourdieu directs us toward the shared structural features of job insecurity, emphasizing the political consequences of workers' alienation. Yet his universalist model cannot adequately explain how or why workers respond to precarious labor regimes as they do. In Jingdezhen, porcelain workers lost their state and collective sector jobs when the government mandated privatization and marketization. How they understood and responded to this experience was shaped by Jingdezhen's particular history, including the ways that decades of government policies had promoted reliance on personal networks, had made labor activism the exclusive purview of the state, and had given many Chinese a negative view of mass mobilization.
Αναγκαίο συμπλήρωμα αλλά και προέκταση του σπιτιού της Λήμνου, η μάντρα, αποτέλεσε, μέχρι και τις εκπνοές του 20ού αιώνα, χώρο παραγωγής και κατοικίας των πολυάριθμων κτηνοτρόφων, συμβάλλοντας καθοριστικά στη διαμόρφωση των οικονομικών... more
Αναγκαίο συμπλήρωμα αλλά και προέκταση του σπιτιού της Λήμνου, η μάντρα, αποτέλεσε, μέχρι και τις εκπνοές του 20ού αιώνα, χώρο παραγωγής και κατοικίας των πολυάριθμων κτηνοτρόφων, συμβάλλοντας καθοριστικά στη διαμόρφωση των οικονομικών και κοινωνικών σχέσεων του νησιού, αλλά και αποδίδοντας στο τοπίο το δικό της πολιτισμικό σημάδι.
This article aims to open a conversation on the recovered enterprise phenomenon as it takes place specifically in Italy. In the popular and academic imagination the expression «recovered enterprise» evokes the phenomenon that emerged in... more
This article aims to open a conversation on the recovered enterprise phenomenon as it takes place specifically in Italy. In the popular and academic imagination the expression «recovered enterprise» evokes the phenomenon that emerged in Argentina between 2001-2002, when thousands of workers restarted failed businesses without the involvement of their previous owners. These experiences were the result of the massive economic crisis that befell the country at the time. While the Argentinean case is foundational, and now widely studied, in the past decade cases of worker-led recoveries have taken place also in Spain, France, Greece and Italy, mainly as a result of the crisis of 2008. Yet very little is known about them. The article explores the Italian phenomenon by looking at the available data, drawn largely from grey literature. Two preliminary conclusions can be reached on the basis of this analysis. Firstly, Italian recovered enterprises are better characterized as instances of workers’ buy-outs, closely linked to the country’s cooperative sector. Secondly, as a result of the latter factor, the phenomenon appears to be quite different from the Argentinean one (especially in its early version) due to the institutional support that Italian workers’ buy-outs receive from the State and the cooperative confederations. There are, however, three cases in Italy that are much closer to those found in Argentina.
Carlo Capello AI MARGINI DEL LAVORO ombre corte | etnografie Un'antropologia della disoccupazione a Torino AI MARGINI DEL LAVORO Se la disoccupazione-uno dei principali problemi del nostro tempo-è spes-so al centro del dibattito... more
Carlo Capello AI MARGINI DEL LAVORO ombre corte | etnografie Un'antropologia della disoccupazione a Torino AI MARGINI DEL LAVORO Se la disoccupazione-uno dei principali problemi del nostro tempo-è spes-so al centro del dibattito pubblico, dei disoccupati si parla invece molto poco. E quando lo si fa, a prevalere è una rappresentazione che tende ad accusarli delle loro stesse difficoltà , a colpevolizzarli e a renderli invisibili. In opposizione a questo rappresentazione, il libro, che si basa su una prolun-gata ricerca sul campo a Torino, intende ridare voce ai disoccupati per com-prendere che cosa significa perdere il lavoro al tempo della deindustrializza-zione e della stagnazione economica globale. Dalle storie e dalle testimonian-ze qui raccolte, la figura del disoccupato si delinea, antropologicamente, come "liminale"-priva di status e di riconoscimento sociale oltre che di reddito, in attesa e alla ricerca di qualcosa, un vero lavoro, che sembra sempre più difficile da trovare. La condizione dei disoccupati si configura così come l'em-blema della Torino post-fordista-anch'essa priva di status e bloccata nell'at-tesa-e come l'incarnazione più piena delle contraddizioni del tardo capita-lismo neoliberista. Contro con ogni riduttiva lettura individualista del fenomeno, le parole e le storie delle persone incontrate sul campo ci ricordano che la disoccupazione è un vero "dramma sociale". Queste pagine sono un tentativo di narrare que-sto dramma e di afferrarne, grazie agli strumenti di un'antropologia critica e militante, tanto le dimensioni politico-economiche quanto quelle relazionali e simboliche. CARLO CAPELLO è Professore Associato di Antropologia culturale presso il Dipartimento di Filosofia e Scienze dell'Educazione dell'Università di Torino. Dopo essersi occupato di mi-grazioni transnazionali e delle concezioni culturali di persona, si dedica da alcuni anni a una lettura antropologica del capitalismo contemporaneo. Tra le sue pubblicazioni: Antro-pologia della persona (FrancoAngeli, 2016) e Torino. Un profilo etnografico (curato con Gio-vanni Semi, Meltemi, 2018).
“Of Blood and Bone: An Ethnographic Study of Death in Relation to the Trauma Scene Cleaning Industry” This research examines the trauma scene cleaning industry and what aspects influenced its development as a form of employment, as well... more
“Of Blood and Bone: An Ethnographic Study of Death in Relation to the Trauma Scene Cleaning Industry” This research examines the trauma scene cleaning industry and what aspects influenced its development as a form of employment, as well as the field and those involved in it. The goal is to show how shifting patterns in dealing with loss beginning with early hominids have lead up to the present and examine whether increased urbanization, industrialization, and medical advances have contributed the creation of this form of business. This research draws mostly on books written about crime scene cleaning personnel in a journalistic context, texts concerning related fields such as the mortuary science, studies on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome, and the Hepatitis C Virus, figures in relation to mortality provided by the Centers for Disease Control, as well as a research survey conducted in December of 2013 as part of Academic Cooperatives in Anthropology taught by Dr. Carleen Sanchez. By looking at the trauma cleaning industry, we are able to view changing trends in how Americans deal with death and public health.
This book analyses the experiences of Japanese women with professional careers in the contexts of the pervasiveness of precarious work conditions in gendered managerial employment; the state’s neglect in transforming antiquated labour... more
This book analyses the experiences of Japanese women with professional careers in the contexts of the pervasiveness of precarious work conditions in gendered managerial employment; the state’s neglect in transforming antiquated labour laws and in combating abusive corporate practices; the implications of dysfunctional employee-employer relations and those among co-workers; media representations as barometers of resistant social norms; the ambivalent effects of work related drinking practices; and the lack of collective representation due to ineffective labour unions. Overall, the book presents the disheartening realities of conflicts and ambivalence experienced by many women managers in contemporary Japan.
Coolies of Capitalism tells the story of women, men and children being recruited and transported to work on the plantations of tea being set up in nineteenth century colonial India. The making of these workers into so called coolies was a... more
Coolies of Capitalism tells the story of women, men and children being recruited and transported to work on the plantations of tea being set up in nineteenth century colonial India. The making of these workers into so called coolies was a broader global process of disciplining labour in the nineteenth century revealing deep lineages and linkages with slave labour and " free " wage labour. The process of producing coolies revealed deep and organic relationship between colonial state and private capital. The author particularly highlights the human dimension of this story by showing how the coolies themeselves were actively intervening and transforming the nature of plantation capitalism in a colonial world.
In the modern globalized world, the multiple and frequent movements of immigrants, the complicated social networks that create and link two or more countries, the uncertain economic, social and political settings of the states directly... more
In the modern globalized world, the multiple and frequent movements of immigrants, the complicated social networks that create and link two or more countries, the uncertain economic, social and political settings of the states directly affect the lives and future decisions of people pushing us to adopt new theoretical and methodological approaches, which can better grasp their transnational experiences. The approach of cultural mobilities suggested in this paper addresses the culturally and socially constructed aspect of modern mobilities through the lived experience of the immigrants themselves and studying within the specific social and economic contexts where it occurs. Ethnographer’s work is to follow mobile practices of immigrants, adopting a multi-sited approach, in order to capture all of their experience without distinguishing 'here' and 'there' which in modern times seem blurred, due to frequent movements, unforeseen paths and economic instability of countries. The case study of Albanian immigrants who work seasonally in Greece (Corinth) and often move inside the country in order to find work due to the economic crisis and visit several times a year their home to maintain their links with their relatives or other family matters demonstrates that the distinction between country of origin and destination obscured in contemporary times. Τhe mobilities of people affected by the economic and social conditions of countries thus seal the uncertainty of their future plans. These complex circumstances create mobilities; both of them are overlapping notions and must be studied together
This paper considers how the formal and real subsumption of academic labour in UK higher education are exposed and exacerbated by the move towards online teaching, assessment and communication. These processes have been expedited by the... more
This paper considers how the formal and real subsumption of academic labour in UK higher education are exposed and exacerbated by the move towards online teaching, assessment and communication. These processes have been expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and attention is drawn to the technology-driven organisational and operational innovations that are transforming academic divisions of labour and labour processes. These changes, particularly in relation to the separation of research and teaching, and to the deprofessionalisation, modularisation, and outsourcing of the latter, are the focus of the paper. We argue that the formal subsumption of knowledge production (research) through commercialisation dovetails with a real subsumption of socially reproductive work (teaching) that is undergoing qualitative transformation in an increasingly marketised higher education sector. We show how digitalisation actively contributes to the growing standardisation and flexibilisation of work, deepens long-standing gendered divisions of labour, and dissolves even further the blurred work/life boundaries for precariously employed workers. These new hallmarks of the contemporary subsumption present new challenges to workers and their collective organisations in Higher Education.
Quinoa farmers in San Agustín, Bolivia face the dilemma of producing for a growing international market while defending their community interests and resources, meeting their basic household needs, and making a profit. Farmers responded... more
Quinoa farmers in San Agustín, Bolivia face the dilemma of producing for a growing international market while defending their community interests and resources, meeting their basic household needs, and making a profit. Farmers responded to a changing market in the 1970s by creating committees in defense of quinoa and farmer cooperatives to represent their interests and maximize economic returns. Today farmer cooperatives offer high, stable prices, politically represent farmers, and are major quinoa exporters, but intermediaries continue to play an important role in the local economy. Meanwhile, some farmers rebuff the national cooperatives and intermediaries in favor of a denomination of origin and closer association with local cooperatives. This article, based on 4 months of ethnographic research, explores the reasons for the continued presence of intermediaries on the market landscape and how farmers have worked to create a quinoa economy embedded with fair trade values. Farmers demand stable prices, flexible standards, provision of services, and promises of maintaining the distinctive qualities of San Agustín quinoa. They frame their trades in economic, utility, and solidarity terms to reflect their livelihood strategies, farming capabilities, and personal concepts of fair trade. Meanwhile cooperatives, development initiatives, and intermediaries each argue that their particular buying practices allow farmers to attain household goods, credit, and cash for food and economic security.
We invite proposals for exhibits for our website https://workplaces.omeka.net. As a group of researchers associated with Workplaces: Pasts and Presents, part of the European Labour History Network (ELHN), we recently launched a website... more
We invite proposals for exhibits for our website https://workplaces.omeka.net. As a group of researchers associated with Workplaces: Pasts and Presents, part of the European Labour History Network (ELHN), we recently launched a website composed of a series of curated multimedia exhibits showcasing our ongoing research into the history of the workplace, workers’ movements, and working-class culture. This initiative draws on a range of disciplinary methodologies
and on the tools provided by digital humanities to archive, curate, and disseminate our findings to audiences of students, scholars, activists, and general public.
- by Görkem Akgöz and +1
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- Cultural History, New Media, Digital Humanities, Sociology of Work
This course was cross-listed with anthropology, sociology, and social work. It borrows both from history of women and work in the US context, as well as various theoretical issues regarding glass ceiling, international migration,... more
This course was cross-listed with anthropology, sociology, and social work. It borrows both from history of women and work in the US context, as well as various theoretical issues regarding glass ceiling, international migration, double-shift of working women, emotional labor etc.
This article looks in a diachronic perspective at the labour conditions and precarity of contemporary Albanian immigrants in Greece. The discussion examines past cultural strategies and current new tactics to address immigrants'... more
This article looks in a diachronic perspective at the labour conditions and precarity of contemporary Albanian immigrants in Greece. The discussion examines past cultural strategies and current new tactics to address immigrants' 'cultural' approaches to different 'crises' and look at how they have either remained stable or have changed over time. Using the case study of Albanian immigrants who work 'seasonally' in the city of Corinth and live in the wider region, the discussion analyses the way in which Albanians handle their social networks; in particular, it focuses on the shifting relevance of old and new networks in finding a job. The discussion considers the declining relevance of the old Albanian social networks that helped them to find a job in Greece during the 1990s; they now consider the members of these networks as potential competitors. In contrast, the Albanian immigrants who have settled in Greece have built new networks, specifically with Greek regional employers, using the relationships that they have developed with Greek nationals. The article shows how Albanians trigger a wider network of 'acquaintances' with other employers, which opens up job opportunities in various contexts and concludes that immigrants tackle modern economic and labour challenges by transforming their own cultural strategies.
As scholarly interest in consumption has risen, little attention has been paid to productive consumption, or the acquisition and use of commodities within production processes. Since the shift toward neo-liberal economic policies in India... more
As scholarly interest in consumption has risen, little attention has been paid to productive consumption, or the acquisition and use of commodities within production processes. Since the shift toward neo-liberal economic policies in India in the early 1990s, commoditized, branded clothing has multiplied in the marketplace, and is increasingly featured in films. Selecting and inserting these clothes into film costume production draws on some of the same discriminations that producers employ in their guise as consumers. Dress designers’ fluency with brands and fashion solidifies their professional standing but costume production is a field of social practice that includes many actors that do not share the same dispositions toward consumption as designers. This leads to professional differentiation in the field that can be tied to proficiency in consumption practices. Commodities as factors of production are as effective as indices of differentiation as they are in the more familiar domain of consumption.
Ako su radne akcije u oslobođenoj Jugoslaviji funkcionisale kao čin masovnog darivanja rada, kako to pokazuje Andrea Matošević, u ovom tekstu posmatram E.P. Tompsona i njegove sunarodnike kao etnografe-savremenike tog darivanja.... more
Ako su radne akcije u oslobođenoj Jugoslaviji funkcionisale kao čin masovnog darivanja rada, kako to pokazuje Andrea Matošević, u ovom tekstu posmatram E.P. Tompsona i njegove sunarodnike kao etnografe-savremenike tog darivanja. “Omladinska pruga” ima sve ključne dvojnosti koje odlikuju jednu etnografiju: to je dokumentarni opis nastao nakon temeljnog učestvovanja u procesima; sa autorom koji je stranac, a primljen u mrežu odnosa koji posmatra; neko ko misli o značenju socijalnih fenomena kroz sopstveno iskustvo kao parametar. S druge strane, tekst čini različitim od klasičnih etnografija darivanja poput one Marsela Mosa (1982) to što opisuje uzajamnost u stvaranju novog društva, a ne u tradicionalnim odnosima. Ovde je u fokusu darivanje rada, a ne njegovih gotovih plodova. Rezultat je esej koji ne samo da ruši neke od najupornijih pretpostavki o totalitarnosti socijalističkih država, već – možda i nehotično – nastavlja i nadilazi temeljne stavke Mosovih teorija. Čitajmo Prugu pitajući se šta bi se desilo da rečnik dara nije skliznuo u liberalnu nostalgiju, te da su alternativna, socijalistička razumevanja stvaranja zajedničkog odnela prevagu.
En el presente capítulo propongo proveer –a partir de mi experiencia de campo– algunas herramientas que contribuyan a pensar lo económico en un sentido amplio. Para ello voy a proponer la importancia que tienen las perspectivas que se... more
En el presente capítulo propongo proveer –a partir de mi experiencia de campo– algunas herramientas que contribuyan a pensar lo económico en un sentido amplio. Para ello voy a proponer la importancia que tienen las perspectivas que se centran en las formas de ganarse la vida antes que en “el trabajo” –como modo de acceso a recursos materiales– y “lo económico”. Así, me interesa centrarme en los modos en que las personas de carne y hueso construyen formas dignas de vivir o pugnan por ellas para dar cuenta de las múltiples maneras en que nuestros interlocutores generan prácticas sociales. Me centraré en una propuesta que tiene en cuenta las múltiples dimensiones sociales que componen “las prácticas económicas”. Para ello recurriré a mi experiencia de investigación, especialmente en tres trabajos de campo realizados en Buenos Aires, Argentina. La recolección informal de residuos entre 2002 y 2015, la venta ambulante entre 2011 y 2017 y los ahorristas de dólares que durante 2011 y 2015 protestaron por la restricción de su venta. En todos esos casos la pregunta se centraba en “lo económico” como punto de partida.
... The University of Arizona Press: Tucson, 1987 xvi Bill Jack Harrell Professor of Sociology SUNY College of Technology Utica, NY In 1968 ... 75:225-240 Jour-nal of Political Economy Whitaker, Charles, 1989 "The... more
... The University of Arizona Press: Tucson, 1987 xvi Bill Jack Harrell Professor of Sociology SUNY College of Technology Utica, NY In 1968 ... 75:225-240 Jour-nal of Political Economy Whitaker, Charles, 1989 "The Disappearing Black Teacher XUV: 122-126 Ebony Williams, J ...
Farmers and activists in the Los Lipez region of Bolivia have created a symbolic commons that links their identity, quinoa crop, and work. Since 2005, farmers have worked with regional activists and marketers to create a denomination of... more
Farmers and activists in the Los Lipez region of Bolivia have created a symbolic commons that links their identity, quinoa crop, and work. Since 2005, farmers have worked with regional activists and marketers to create a denomination of origin in order to project their work and connection with quinoa into international markets for their crop. Yet sales certified with the denomination of origin trademark have not significantly displaced other sales to buyers for the national cooperatives or to local intermediaries. Based on 4 months of ethnographic research with growers, local resellers, and leaders of the denomination of origin initiative, this case documents how the Bolivian quinoa market is a composite of varied market channels, interests, and values that inhibit the full realization of any single development approach. However, the complexity that actor agency introduces into commodity circulation results in earnings at different scales, the movement of multiple qualities of quinoa, transactions in formal and informal settings, and a more resilient life sphere of agricultural production.
This article seeks to reconsider the concept of precarity by bringing in the discussion of care. An increased academic interest in the subject of precarity and precarious working conditions in advanced, post-industrial economies is often... more
This article seeks to reconsider the concept of precarity by bringing in the discussion of care. An increased academic interest in the subject of precarity and precarious working conditions in advanced, post-industrial economies is often premised on the false binary of precarity-stability. While stable working and living conditions have historically been a privilege of a minority of autonomous individuals, engaged in productive work, free from direct dependence or dependents, women and marginalised groups are often made more precarious, as their highly exploitable labour assets are not given any, or certainly not an equal value. And while stability at work can destabilize precarious lives of people with care responsibilities and marginalized groups, who need flexibility in order to navigate their lives, subjecting the affective domain to the principles of the market does not offer an effective solution to the inequalities between productive and reproductive labour. The article works on three different levels-the critique of ethnocentrism and androcentrism of the concept of precarity, the introduction of precarious living conditions into the discussion of precarious labour, and the insistence on the necessity to insert solidarity, care and love back into our workplaces as a way to resist capitalist competitiveness and alienation. We also warn against the risk of such care labour being exploited by a next cycle of capitalist appropriation. Reviewing a range of empirical studies, we explore the ways in which care destabilizes the neat boundaries between precarity and stability. We argue that repositioning care as a central activity in all human production and reproduction, both outside paid labour and inside it, allows us to see more clearly potential venues of exploitation and liberation within the predicament of precarity.
- by Mariya Ivancheva and +1
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- Sociology, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Sociology of Work
Ky libër analizon një trajektore të modernitetit, në mënyrë të veçantë si formatohet një shoqëri njerëzore kur shteti dhe institucionet e tij e projektojnë dhe e planifikojnë modernitetin për njerëzit dhe grupet shoqërore. Në fokus të tij... more
Ky libër analizon një trajektore të modernitetit, në mënyrë të veçantë si formatohet një shoqëri njerëzore kur shteti dhe institucionet e tij e projektojnë dhe e planifikojnë modernitetin për njerëzit dhe grupet shoqërore. Në fokus të tij është shoqëria shqiptare gjatë socializmit shtetëror apo komunizmit dhe praktikat modernizuese që shteti ndërmori gjatë periudhës në fjalë.