research help on socialization

K d-m-c at worldnet.att.net
Wed Sep 16 09:11:16 PDT 1998


Paul:

Start with a read of Michael Burawoy's Manufacturing Consent. Several of Burawoy's students have gone on to develop that concept further, Vicki Smith's Managing in the Corporate Interest is an example. Smith examines how downsizing in the banking industry intensifies and lays bare the contradictory position of management. Smith also had an interesting article in the journal Work and Occupations a couple of years ago. She examined how service workers come to accept schemes like 'continuous quality improvement' and 'participatory mgmt US style" because they have bought into the American dream of upward mobility and professionalization, but also because they often view the upper middle class professionals they serve as the "enemy" rather than viewing their boss as their enemy. In other words, service workers see the customer as enemy and increasingly align themselves with the boss in their common fight against rude, snobby, etc customers and clients. Reminds me that Larry Hirschhorn, too, has done some work in a more social pscyhological vein, though I surely wouldn't say his work is Marxian.

There's probably more but my life, my books, my papers are in boxes a U haul center. If you're still looking in two months, drop me a note and I'll send you more refs.

Best, Kelley Crouse



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