The new paternalism? The workplace as a place to work-and to live

Aurélie Leclercq Vandelannoitte ()
Additional contact information
Aurélie Leclercq Vandelannoitte: LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Aurelie LECLERCQ-VANDELANNOITTE

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: This study aims to better understand the modern evolution of the workplace not only as a place to work but also increasingly as a place to live. Current research largely excludes the instrumental aspects of this blurring of personal and professional spheres at work, as manifested in an intentional dissolution of the boundaries between work and non-work activities. To understand the meaning and implications of these new workplaces, which rely on a central tension between care and control and tend to reinterpret paternalism as an organizing principle, this study develops a conceptual framework derived from Michel Foucault's concept of pastoral power. This framework helps make sense of a caring mode of power that marks modern organizations. The application of this framework-using a qualitative case study of a French company's home-like working environment-suggests a processual and constructivist conceptualization of these workplaces as a manifestation of pastoral power, embedded in a broader governmentality strategy. It emphasizes the material and discursive construction of the workplace as a place to live and highlights the emergence of neo-paternalism as a new form of care and control. This critical perspective informs discussion on the implications of this caring mode of control for workers, in a hopeful call to stay alert to modern capitalist intrigues.

Keywords: Workplace; Michel Foucault; pastoral power; governmentality; home-like workplace; work-life boundary; space; paternalism; care and control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-05-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03328163
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Organization, 2021, 28 (6), pp.949-975. ⟨10.1177/13505084211015374⟩

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-03328163/document (application/pdf)

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:hal:journl:hal-03328163

DOI: 10.1177/13505084211015374

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().