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Subjectivity and the Labour Process: Conceptualising `Good Work'
Douglas Ezzy
Two central unresolved problems in labour process theory are the disjuncture between structure and agency and the problem of what constitutes `good' work. This paper argues that a hermeneutic conception of the self as constructed through narrative provides a resolution to these two issues. Hermeneutics conceptualises the self as neither a solitary entity impervious to the influence of others, nor as a mere reflection of objective structures or `discourses of power'. Rather, in the process of self-interpretation a person uses socially learnt cultural discourses to construct and reconstruct a coherent sense of narrative-identity. Substantive illustrations are drawn from labour process theory, recent developments in management theory, and some more general studies of the meaning of working.
Key Words: labour process • narrative-identity • subjectivity • careers • alienation • cultural discourses
Sociology, Vol. 31, No. 3,
427-444 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038597031003004
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