There is a long tradition of research on politics, power and exclusion in areas such as sociology, social policy, politics, womens studies and philosophy. While power has received considerable attention in mainstream management research and teaching, it is rarely considered in terms of politics and exclusion, particularly where the work of women writers is concerned.
This second book in the Routledge Series on Women Writers in Organization Studies analyses the ways in which women have theorised and embodied relations of power. Women like Edith Garrud who, trained in the Japanese art of jujutsu, confronted the power of the state to champion feminist politics. Others, such as Beatrice Webb and Alva Myrdal, are shown to have been at the heart of welfare reforms and social justice movements that responded to the worst excesses of industrialisation based on considerations of class and gender. The writing of bell hooks provides a necessarily uncomfortable account of the ways in which imperialism, white supremacy and patriarchy inflict unspoken harm, while Hannah Arendts work considers the ways in which different modes of organizing restrict the ability of people to live freely. Taken together, such writings dispel the myth that work or business can be separated from the rest of life, a point driven home by Rosabeth Moss Kanters observations on the ways in which power and inequality differentially structure life chances. These writers challenge us to think again about power, politics and exclusion in organizational contexts. They provide provocative thinking, which opens up new avenues for organization theory, practice and social activism.
Each woman writer is introduced and analysed by experts in organization studies. Further reading and accessible resources are also identified for those interested in knowing (thinking!) more. This book will be relevant to students, researchers and practitioners with an interest in business and management, organizational studies, critical management studies, gender studies and sociology. Like all the books in this series, it will also be interest to anyone who wants to see, think and act differently.
This book considers the ways in which women have challenged the power, politics and exclusion wrought by others. It will be relevant to students and researchers across business and management, organizational studies, critical management studies, gender studies and sociology.
Series note, Notes on contributors, 1 Introduction: Power, politics and
exclusion, Robert McMurray and Alison Pullen, 2 Edith Garrud: The
jujutsuffragette Simon Kelly, 3 Beatrice Webb: Social investigator David
Jacobs and Rosetta Morris, 4 There is always something that one can do:
Social engineering and organization in the family politics of Alva Myrdal
Louise Wallenberg and Torkild Thanem, 5 Rosabeth Moss Kanter: Revolutionary
roots and liberal spores Deborah N Brewis and Lara Pecis, 6 The
organizational condition: Hannah Arendt and the radical domestication of
freedom Peter Bloom, 7 Decolonising organizations with bell hooks Helena Liu,
Index
Robert McMurray is Professor of Work and Organization at The York Management School, UK. His research interests include the organization of health care, professions, emotion labour, dirty work and visual methods. Other collaborative book projects include The Dark Side of Emotional Labour (2015), The Management of Wicked Problems in Health and Social Care (2018) and Urban Portraits (2017).
Alison Pullen is Professor of Management and Organization Studies at Macquarie University, Australia and Editor-in-Chief of Gender, Work and Organization. Alisons research has been concerned with analysing and intervening in the politics of work as it concerns gender discrimination, identity politics and organizational injustice.
