Contemplation and the ‘Performative Absolute’: submission and identity in managerial modernity

Roberts, Richard

doi:10.1080/13617672.2013.828939

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…A third response is to fold under the pressure, and ‘the hidden injuries’ of the neoliberal university here are all-too-often invisible, for those who are unable to conform often leave higher education altogether (Gill, 2010). A fourth response is to obey what has been termed, in theological reading the ‘Performative Absolute’ demanded by contemporary human resources management and offer oneself up as ‘living sacrifice’; in this perspective, ‘this is the age of the employee as oblate’ (Roberts, 2012: 18).…”

Section: The Shape Of the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The function and field of speech and language in neoliberal education

Parker

2015

Organization

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This paper explores the role of psychoanalysis in contemporary neoliberal management of higher education, as a critical resource and as an aspect of the problem it describes. The marketisation, privatisation and financialisation of the university sector is the context for a brief case example in which we see the logic of fantasy staged in a particular organisation, and this case example is followed by a review of the distinctive forms of management of subjectivity in higher education which sustain the context for such events. I bring aspects of Lacanian psychoanalysis to bear on the development of current neoliberal management strategies in universities, and then methodological principles are extracted from Lacan's 1953 foundational text 'The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis'; the principles concern the application of psychoanalysis, the place of speech as site of truth, language conceptualised here as psychoanalytic discourse, the gap between speech and language manifested in alienation and symptoms, resistance expressed in jokes, and the formation of specific domains in which psychoanalytic reasoning is operative today. I argue that neoliberal management realises the worst aspects of the problems Lacan identifies in his text; knowledge as grounding for education and interpretation, treatment underpinned by charitable concern, and the performance of expertise tied to power. I focus on Lacan's warnings about the popularisation of psychoanalytic discourse, and conclude with comments on the way 'analysis' now takes place outside the clinic.

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Section: The Shape Of the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The function and field of speech and language in neoliberal education

Parker

2015

Organization

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“…Notwithstanding critiques of managerialism's rise and extension into the personal, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life (c.f. Heelas, 2002;Roberts, 2012), it is only very recently that boredom has been considered in line with the conceptualisation offered by the field of Boredom Studies (Johnsen, 2016): that is, in its 'profound' conception. A key insight from what Johnsen identifies as the common affinities between Boredom Studies and MOS is that studies of boredom at work need not be limited to prescriptive and managerialist concerns, which (counter to its proponents' claims) rarely address the experience of boredom itself (Johnsen, 2011: 482).…”

Section: Simple and Profound Boredom In Management And Organisation S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Costea et al, 2005: 141). As others have pointed out, following the increased focus on elements such as 'culture management', 'self-management' and 'Human Resource Management' in the 1980s, a new mixture of play and work has appeared on the managerial horizon (Andersen, 2009(Andersen, , 2013Roberts, 2012). It is in relation to these focuses that, in the early 21st Century, 'self-assertion seems to have produced a new cultural order in which Dionysian modulations have come to replace the rational, productive, ascetic, self-sacrificial "Prometheus" of early capitalism' (Costea et al, 2005: 146).…”

Section: Boredom At Work Today: Managerialism As the New Expression O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Boredom at work: The contribution of Ernst Jünger

Watt

Weibull

2022

Organization

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This paper interrogates the phenomenon of boredom at work by considering Ernst Jünger’s potential contribution. We contend that Jünger offers an important yet overlooked alternative to the dominant perspectives of boredom in Management and Organization Studies (MOS), which are largely composed of ‘simple’ psychological diagnoses and managerial prescriptions. Such studies largely understand boredom as a localised experience at work which can be overcome by targeted managerial prescriptions, techniques and interventions. In contrast we show how Jünger understands boredom from a ‘profound’ perspective as a central feature of modernity. This is premised on Jünger’s broader critique of the bourgeois values that define 20th and 21st century managerial work and organization. Jünger’s cultural-historical perspective is therefore aligned to the discrete field of Boredom Studies. By addressing how Jünger understands ‘work’ as the defining feature of the modern age, his critique situates the phenomenon of boredom at work within the broader social, institutional and cultural order of the 21st Century. While Jünger does not set out to provide a theory of boredom as such, we reconstruct such a theory through an exegesis of his writing on ‘work’ and ‘danger’. This reveals boredom and danger as phenomenologically intertwined concepts, which is an understanding of boredom that has not been considered in MOS or Boredom Studies. It is through this, we argue, that Jünger’s conception of work holds the potential for a powerful critique and understanding of boredom at work under the contemporary regime of neoliberal managerialism.

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“…It is convenient for the current British government to silence critical voices, and this strategy also helps to deliver the new supplicant academic identities desired in the neoliberal university. Roberts () offers a theologian's vision of an academy in which “the bio‐unit or employee, is subject to living sacrifice; this is age of the employee as oblate” (2013: 327).…”

Section: Anticipatory Performance Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Management and the Stifling of Academic Freedom and Knowledge Production

Morrish¹,

Sauntson²

2016

J Historical Sociology

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In an era of neoliberal reforms, academics in UK universities have become increasingly enmeshed in audit, particularly of research 'outputs'. Using the data of performance management and training documents, this paper analyses the role of discourse in redefining the meaning of research, and in colonizing a new kind of entrepreneurial, corporate academic. The new regime in universities is characterized by slippage between the audit and disciplinary functions of performance management. We conclude that academic freedom is unlikely to emerge from a system which demands compliance with a regime of unattainable targets and constant surveillance.

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Contemplation and the ‘Performative Absolute’: submission and identity in managerial modernity

Cited by 8 publications

References 22 publications

The function and field of speech and language in neoliberal education

The function and field of speech and language in neoliberal education

Boredom at work: The contribution of Ernst Jünger

Performance Management and the Stifling of Academic Freedom and Knowledge Production

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