‘Are they out to get us?’ Power and the ‘recognition’ of the subject through a ‘lean’ work regime

• Published in: Organization studies Vol. 42; no. 11; pp. 1721 - 1740
• Main Authors: Mackenzie, Ewan, McGovern, Tom, Small, Adrian, Hicks, Chris, Scurry, Tracy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.11.2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Acknowledgment; Critical theory; Deployment; Discourses; Governmentality; Health care; Human capital; Medical personnel; Neoliberalism; Organization studies; Power; Prescription drugs; Professional autonomy; Social relations; Technology; Work; Workers; Workplaces; technologies of power; subjectivity; governmentality; lean; Foucault

Critical studies of ‘lean’ work regimes have tended to focus on the factory shop floor or public and healthcare sectors, despite its recent revival and wider deployment in neoliberal service economies. This paper investigates the politics of the workplace in a United Kingdom automotive dealership gr...