"A snake?s coils are even more intricate than a mole?s burrow." Individualization and Subjectification in Post-disciplinary Regimes of Work

Richard Weiskopf () and Bernadette Loacker ()
Additional contact information
Richard Weiskopf: Department of Organization and Learning, Innsbruck University, School of Management
Bernadette Loacker: Department of Organization and Learning, Innsbruck University, School of Management

management revue. Socio-economic Studies, 2006, vol. 17, issue 4, 395-419

Abstract: In contemporary discourse it is almost commonplace to describe societies and work relations as highly individualized. In this article we develop a conceptual framework that enables us to discuss processes and practices of individualization as political technologies. Following a line of thinking influenced by Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, we first illustrate three different regimes of work. The main focus is on elaborating and illustrating characteristics of the post-disciplinary regime of work which allows us to systematize fundamental shifts in the way of organizing and managing work. We then analyze contemporary strategies for producing the "appropriate individual" as "technologies of modulation" that focus on the production of the autonomous, flexible and adaptable subject. We suggest that these strategies are highly ambivalent and must not be seen in a deterministic way. They are necessarily an interplay of technologies that determine the conduct of individuals and "technologies of the self". This is reflected in the process of subjectification that contains both possibilities for increased subjection and for self-creation.

Keywords: Governmentality; Individualization; Post-disciplinarity; Regimes of Work; Subjectification; Technologies of the self (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F23 J53 M10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.hampp-verlag.de/hampp_e-journals_mrev.htm#406 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rai:mamere:1861-9908_mrev_2006_04_weiskopf

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
Rainer Hampp Verlag, Journals, Vorderer Lech 35, 86150 Augsburg, Germany. A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available at
http://www.hampp-verlag.de/Hampp_Recherche_e.htm

Access Statistics for this article

management revue. Socio-economic Studies is currently edited by Matthias Baum, Ina Ehnert, Marcel Erlinghagen, Simon Fietze, Susanne Gretzinger, Wenzel Matiaske and Sylvia Rohlfer

More articles in management revue. Socio-economic Studies from Rainer Hampp Verlag
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Rainer Hampp ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).