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Organizations, Self-Identities and the New Economy
Janette Webb
University of Edinburgh, jan.webb{at}ed.ac.uk
The article examines the inter-relations between self-identity and organizational change in advanced capitalist societies characterized by deregulation of markets, privatization and globalizing economic relations. It compares two contrasting perspectives on selfhood: the reflexive self (Giddens, 1991) and the corroded self (Sennett, 1998). Giddens suggests that contemporary organizations, rather than eroding meaning, offer a greater degree of choice about self-identity, and enhance reflexivity and agency. Sennett suggests that new economic forms are corrosive of character and social relations. Using examples from predominantly British data, it is argued that both accounts offer relevant insights into the interplay between selfhood and organizations, but that each overstates their case. Giddens offers a persuasive account of the choice and voluntarism characterizing self-identity for at least a proportion of the population. His account of the ‘project of the self’, however, contributes to an ideology of the flexible, commodified self, and an overly inflated sense of the potential for individualized self-growth. Sennett over-emphasizes the extent of change in organization and employment relations, at least in the British case, but points to the damaging effects of an ideology of individualism, to which Giddens’ model of the self as project potentially contributes. The article argues that short-termism is not the most damaging element of contemporary organization practices. Instead increased instrumentalism on the part of employers results in the experience of increased responsibility without meaningful discretion and authority. The gap between employers’ promises to empower people at work and the experience of greater burdens and uncertain prospects has negative consequences for trust and morale. In conclusion, it is suggested that character is not necessarily undermined by such dynamics: encountering the limits of self-determination, reflexivity and individualism provides the material for critique of new economic forms, as evidenced by public concern with issues of care and mutual dependence.
Key Words: employment • new economy • organizations • self-identity • work
Sociology, Vol. 38, No. 4,
719-738 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038504045861
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