The Labour of Aesthetics and the Aesthetics of Organization

Abstract

This article develops the conceptualization and analysis of aesthetic labour in two parts. The first part focuses on conceptualizing aesthetic labour. We critically revisit the emotional labour literature, arguing that the analysis of interactive service work is impeded by the way in which its corporeal aspects are retired and that, by shifting the focus from emotional to aesthetic labour, we are able to recuperate the embodied character of service work. We then explore the insights provided by the sociological perspectives on the body contained in the works of Goffman and Bourdieu in order to conceptualize aesthetic labour as embodied labour. In the second part, we develop our analysis of aesthetic labour within the context of a discussion of the aesthetics of organization. We discern three ways in which aesthetics is recognized to imbue organization: aesthetics of organization, aesthetics in organization and aesthetics as organization. We contend that employees are increasingly seen not simply as `software' but as `hardware', in the sense that they too can be corporately moulded to portray the organizational aesthetic. We ground this analysis in a case study from research conducted by the authors.

Conceptualising Body Work in Health and Social Care

“…Thus work undertaken by individuals on their own bodies, though interesting and increasingly significant, is not included. We omit debates around the self-disciplining of the body as part of the Foucauldian technologies of the self (Foucault 1997), as a requirement for work (Witz et al 2003) or as a project in High Modernity (Shilling 1993), particularly in relation to norms of appearance and control (Bordo 1993;Gimlin 2002;Davis 1995), though we are, of course, interested in the body work of those who are employed to help others meet those expectations, or whose work practices on their own bodies, as Wainwright's article in this issue shows, are related to their work on other's bodies. We 5 also lay aside the current focus within public health on the requirement for citizens to promote their own health through regimes of bodily activity and control.…”

Aesthetics from a design perspective

“…However, we have to be frank about this: although we believe Aesthetics from a design perspective explicit attention for the aesthetic dimension is relevant in organisation studies, we do not want to suggest a l'art pour l'art attitude in organisations. We recognise that, in terms of Witz et al (2003), we are, "in effect, 'adding on' a concern with aesthetics to a fundamentally rationalist and structuralist paradigm of organization" (p. 43). As we emphasise the role and significance of aesthetics, we primarily do so, as Witz et al, call it, for instrumental reasons.…”

“…Another line of research is the study on the aesthetics of service labour (Witz et al, 2003;Adkins, 2000;Hancock and Tyler, 2000;Sturdy et al, 2001). These studies focus on the ways in which employers seek to influence the embodied "dispositions" of service workers.…”

Bad Enough Ergonomics

“…Analyzing the material and aesthetic dimensions of modern organizational culture has lately become a rich and growing field of critical research (see, for example, Chugh & Hancock, 2009;Cohen, 2010;Dale, 2005;Dean, 2005;Gabriel, 2005;Gabriel & Lang, 2008;Gregory, 2011;Hancock & Tyler, 2007;Lopez, 2010;Rafaeli & VilnaiYavetz, 2004;Strati & deMontoux, 2002;Valtonen, 2012;Witz, Warhurst, & Nickson, 2003). This field of research shows how the design of objects and spatial settings for modern organizations is also a physical embodiment of a specific organization's culture and values.…”

“…The article establishes how the vision shared by all the relevant actors invites active, flexible, and cooperative end-users and how the vision also has potential material effects. The research is an ethnographically inspired case study that draws ideas from discursive psychology.Keywords office furniture, ergonomics, discursive psychology, ethnography, design, office work, soft capitalism, aesthetic economy 2 SAGE Open Gabriel, 2005;Gabriel & Lang, 2008;Gregory, 2011;Hancock & Tyler, 2007;Lopez, 2010; Rafaeli & VilnaiYavetz, 2004;Strati & deMontoux, 2002;Valtonen, 2012;Witz, Warhurst, & Nickson, 2003). This field of research shows how the design of objects and spatial settings for modern organizations is also a physical embodiment of a specific organization's culture and values.…”