Control, Resistance, and Identity: Defining Worker Responses to Neo-Liberal Managerialism

• In Event: 539 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Social Movements and Labor Solidarity, Beyond the United States

Abstract

With the rise of neo-liberal regimes characterized by subtle and ever-increasing managerial control, the changing face of the workplace and worker resistance in the 20th century has led to controversy in the academic community over what constitutes “real” workplace resistance. This paper addresses two contrasting views of workplace resistance:(1) a traditional approach centered on collective action and aimed at satisfying material demands, and (2) a postmodern approach that emphasizes individual behaviors and attitudes adopted to protect employees’ sense of identity and autonomy. De-unionization and the increasing legislation of employee rights are discussed as key factors in the decline of the traditional approach. Disengagement and exit are discussed as inevitable, but either dissatisfactory or unattainable, aspects of the latter type of resistance. The authors suggest Andre Spicer’s concept of “strategic universalism” as a viable form of worker resistance that lies between these two extremes, expanding upon Spicer’s ideas while comparing elements of strategic universalism with svejkism (i.e. extreme passivity) and other postmodern manifestations of resistance against managerial control.

Authors

• Anna Brinkman, Sogang University

• Seil Oh, Sogang University