A Worker Cooperative Takeover: Organizing radical transformation according to Lefebvre’s experimental utopia

Céline Schmidt () and Gregor Bouville ()
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Céline Schmidt: UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur
Gregor Bouville: Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon, UJML3 LC - Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 - Faculté des Humanités, Lettres et Sociétés (Lettres et civilisations jusqu'en 2024) - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon, MAGELLAN - Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon

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Abstract: This article analyzes the seemingly impossible radical transformation of a factory into a worker cooperative despite a multinational corporation's refusal to cede its brand and its announced plans to shut down the factory and relocate its production. With a hybrid ethnographic approach, this research addresses the interwoven (holistic) spatial and temporal dynamics of one such transformation. The resulting study builds on and expands Lefebvre's concept of experimental utopia to the organization studies domain to clarify the process of radical transformation and the conditions under which a new social space gets produced within a collective survival context. Furthermore, this study introduces the notion of a mechanotransducer , which is essential to the production of a worker cooperative. The results prioritize the value of a holistic spatiotemporal conceptualization of utopia, in accordance with a Lefebvrian perspective.

Keywords: Alternative organization; Cooperative; Ethnography < Research Alternative organization; cooperative; ethnography; Lefebvre; space; utopia; Alternative organization Cooperative Ethnography < Research Alternative organization cooperative ethnography Lefebvre space utopia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07-31
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05752535v1
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Published in Organization Studies, 2026, 47 (8), pp.1287-1312. ⟨10.1177/01708406261447709⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05752535

DOI: 10.1177/01708406261447709

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