Theorizing the past: Realism, relativism, relationalism and the reassembly of Weber

Abstract

This paper attempts to address the recent call for an historic turn in management and organization studies: that of how to do history and represent the past of the field. To this end, we begin by stressing the need to theorize the past. We develop and describe a concept that we term relationalism, which draws on the sociology of knowledge (SoK) as well as select facets of an approach that has been developed through an engagement with the SoK, that of actor-network theory. The paper offers a theoretical discussion of relationalism as a way of theorizing the past and the past-as-history as an alternative to realism and relativism. We seek an empirical demonstration of relationalism through exploring the wide dispersion and numerous linguistic translations of the work of a scholar who was instrumental in the development of the SoK, that of Max Weber. Relationalism calls for interrogating the politics of representing the past, tracing actors symmetrically and surfacing the past-as-history in its multiplicity. Telling the past relationally calls for an exploration of the tensions between different modes of knowing. To this end, we offer it as a moral alternative.

Los estudios críticos en administración: origen, evolución y posibilidades de aporte al desarrollo del campo de los estudios organizacionales en América Latina

“…Al interior de esta gran variedad de fuentes se destacan: i) la teoría del proceso de trabajo (labor process theory) (Thompson & O'Doherty, 2009), la cual se inspira en el trabajo de Braverman (1998); ii) la obra de Max Weber (Burrell, 1999;Durepos, Mills & Weatherbee, 2012;Jennings, Schulz, Patient, Gravel & Ke, 2005;Kalinowski, 2009;Lounsbury & Carberry, 2005;Westwood & Clegg, 2003;Willmott, 2009); y iii) la obra de Michel Foucault, en particular sus reflexiones sobre el rol de la crítica, sobre el poder y su relación con el conocimiento, sobre la sociedad disciplinar y sobre el método de investigación en ciencias sociales (Saavedra, Sanabria & Smida, 2013;Burrell, 1988;Granjon, 2009;Hatchuel, Pezet, Starkey & Lenay, 2005;McKinlay & Starkey, 1998;Rowlinson & Carter, 2002).…”

Construction Work: Evolving Discourses of the "Worker" in Management Textbooks, 1920s to the First Decade of the 21st

“…They naturalize this order, make it appear to be the logical end of a historical development and assume that things will remain this way" (Mir, 2003: 736). In presenting ideology as objective truth, both the power dynamics at play and the interests of those who benefit from these dynamics are obfuscated (Durepos, Mills, & Weatherbee, 2012).…”

“…Much of the literature has examined how particular schools of thought are presented and/or excluded (e.g., Stambaugh & Trank, 2010), how historical developments and theorists in MOS are interpreted (Durepos et al, 2012;Dye, Mills, & Weatherbee, 2005;Weatherbee & Durepos, 2010), and how certain political events and eras are filtered (Foster, Mills, & Weatherbee, 2012;Grant & Mills, 2006;McLaren & Mills, 2010). In this literature, however, the worker in organizations is rarely a subject for critical examination.…”

Organizing a precarious black box: An actor‐network account of the Atlantic Schools of Business, 1980–2006

“…ANT scholars have focused not only on the relational aspects of organizing but also the relational character of the production of (organizational) knowledge (Bloomfield & Vurdubakis, ; Czarniawska‐Joerges & Hernes, ; Hernes, ; Lee & Hassard, ). Insights generated by ANT studies of organizing have been wide‐reaching in helping to re‐theorize topics such as the resource‐based view of the firm (Steen, ; Steen, Coopmans, & Whyte, ), knowledge management (Hull, ; Spender, ), information systems (Bloomfield & Best, ; Lowe, ), and management and organizational history (Bruce & Nyland, ; Durepos & Mills, ; Durepos, Mills, & Weatherbee, ; Myrick, Helms Mills, & Mills, ).…”

“…However, undertaking a study from an ANT perspective is far from easy. The ANT literature provides a unique ontological perspective (Durepos et al, ), but no prescriptive methodology. The vast majority of ANT studies employ an ethnographic method to literally follow and observe actor‐networks in real‐time.…”