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Work: What is it good for? (Absolutely nothing)—a critical theorist’s perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 December 2019

Dennis K. Mumby
Dennis K. Mumby*
Affiliation:
Department of Communication, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: mumby@email.uncc.edu
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Abstract

The title of this focal article (unashamedly paraphrased from Edwin Starr’s classic 1970 antiwar song) is only partly intended to be tongue in cheek; work is a strange thing with a very checkered history. For the most part, it is something we take for granted. Most able-bodied adults work. Working hard is taken as a sign of being an upstanding citizen. Right wing politicians even insist that “government handouts” only be made available in exchange for participation in “workfare” programs. Moreover, work is not just something we do; over the last 100 years or so, it has become a defining, constitutive feature of who we are as human beings. Our very sense of identity and well-being is tied up with our relationship to work. It is no accident, after all, that the first question we ask a stranger is, “What do you do?” (and we are not asking about their hobbies); we see this question as a way of taking the measure of that person.

Keywords

FoucaultCritical Theorypowerresistancework
Type
Focal Article
Information
Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 429 - 443
Copyright
© Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2019

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Footnotes

The editorial team of IOP created a goal for this term of introducing at least one different disciplinary perspective to IOP readers. To that end, we are pleased to have Dr. Dennis Mumby share a “critical perspective” on work and organizations. Dr. Mumby is one of the world’s leading organizational communication scholars. We are grateful to him for taking the time to write for IOP and for his willingness to be polemic in order to inspire commentaries and generate meaningful discourse.

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