‘It's capitalism on coke!’: From temporary to permanent liminality in organization studies

Abstract

In recent years, organization studies have become increasingly aware of the concept of liminality. In our review and critique of this reception of liminality in organization studies, we emphasize that liminality involves a fundamental suspension of ordinary social structures. Although the prevailing use of the concept in anthropology as well as in organization studies has conceptualized liminality as a temporary state, we focus on permanent liminality. Yet the idea of permanent liminality leads to an inevitable paradox, because the concept, by definition, is a temporary state. Conceptualizing liminality as a constant state of social limbo, we show that the paradox in permanent liminality stems from the impossibility of drawing clear distinctions between different social spheres, especially as they apply to modern work -life. Examining a case study about a management consultant, we illustrate the paradox of liminality in terms of a zone of indistinction between work and life as it is reflected in an empirical selfnarrative about a consultancy 'lifestyle'. We further link these findings to a possible transition from disciplinary societies to societies of control.

Identity Work and Organizational Identification

“…Others have argued that (at least some) people may be better regarded as ‘perpetual liminars’ (Ybema et al . 2011, p. 24) surfing continuously between jobs, roles, tasks and even careers (Borg and Söderlund ; Johnsen and Sørensen ). In this theorizing, ongoing processes of identity work create liminal identities and identifications (whether transitional or permanent).…”

Serving Time: Volunteer Work, Liminality and the Uses of Meaningfulness at Music Festivals

“…Turner () briefly refers to modern settings (in his discussion of ‘hippies’, for instance) as containing liminality and communitas, but largely focuses on ritual settings in which social norms are totalizing and symbolically uncontested. The variety we observe may have to do with the more pluralistic and diverse aspects of liminality in modern society (Johnsen and Sorenson, ); thus, how liminality and communitas work differently across diverse work spaces and types, including ‘normal’ organizations, remains an important issue to address. In our site, the heterogeneity and temporariness of contemporary festivals may mark them as ‘quasi‐rituals’, achieving pockets of liminality and communitas with mixed success in detaching symbolic reality from the everyday.…”

“…What our study adds to this literature by joining the notion of liminality with meaningful work, is to show how liminality supports the meaningfulness of communitas, while simultaneously buttressing potentially exploitative work arrangements. Previous studies have regarded liminality as the ‘in‐between’ of work practices (e.g., Czarniawska and Mazza, ), of organizational change (Howard‐Grenville et al, ), or of capitalism more broadly (Johnsen and Sorenson, ), and some scholars have emphasized its role in coping with domination (Shortt, ). Yet the connection between liminality and meaningfulness remains obscure, given that the liminality‐communitas link, as originally emphasized by Turner (), rarely appears in current literature.…”

“…In our site, the heterogeneity and temporariness of contemporary festivals may mark them as ‘quasi‐rituals’, achieving pockets of liminality and communitas with mixed success in detaching symbolic reality from the everyday. Such quasi‐rituals, where communitas co‐exists with the mundane, require further exploration (see Esposito, ; Johnsen and Sorenson, ), as they are likely to reconfigure liminal spaces and symbolic meanings in diverse ways. Thus, further investigation beyond the current site can help to understand the different contours of liminality in work settings more generally.…”

Different Drivers: Exploring Employee Involvement in Corporate Philanthropy

“…The etymology of the word 'liminal' comes from Limen, the Latin for 'threshold' and refers to contexts that are characterised by "high levels of ambiguity" (e Cunha et al 2010, p. 189). A liminal state is one in which the normal ways of behaving and organising social life in hierarchical societies are temporarily overturned, creating conditions of "being between normal social statuses" (Kaufman and Morgan 2005, p. 317) and involving "a fundamental suspension of social structures" (Johnsen and Sørensen 2015). A classic example described in the anthropological text that popularised the concept describes how a chief-elect, wearing "nothing but a ragged waist cloth", must crouch uncomfortably and submissively whilst being harangued by his soon-to-be subjects (Turner 1969, pp.…”