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Contours of workplace resistance: Organization, collaboration, and recognition

Jillian M Crocker, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

Studies of workplace resistance tend to focus on research subjects as workers - reifying the notion of the ideal worker, disconnected from families and communities. This simplification of workers' experiences and their motivations lays the foundation for another: the idea that workers' actions can be easily and categorically understood either as accommodations of management interests or as resistance to those interests. Taking these two issues together, this dissertation considers the extent to which a more complete account of individuals' lives and interests might refashion our conceptualization of resistance. Focusing on workplace resistance, this multi-case study considers two central questions. First, what counts as resistance, and to what degree is the distinction between resistance and accommodation a useful distinction? Second, when considering the contours of everyday workplace resistance, in what ways does a multidimensional consideration of individuals' experiences as both workers and members of families and communities shape our understanding of power relations? The dissertation concludes by considering the potential positive or negative impacts of a broad - and contextualized - understanding of workplace resistance.

Subject Area

Sociology|Individual & family studies|Organizational behavior

Recommended Citation

Crocker, Jillian M, "Contours of workplace resistance: Organization, collaboration, and recognition" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3615405.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3615405

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