Kelly, Paul and Cowen, Michael (2014) CHAT and governmentality:the uniform in the activities and management of migrant worker populations. In: EGOS European Group for Organisational Studies, 2014-07-022014-07-05, Erasmus University.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This paper focuses on the low-income migrant worker in an oil rich nation. Our first objective is to discuss the working conditions of migrants, exclusively through the lens of their clothing and uniforms. The second objective is to offer two contrasting accounts of the uniform, through Foucauldian governmentality and through cultural historical activity theory, or CHAT. The dual approach reveals insights into the uniform’s many functions, and draws attention to aspects of power and activity in CHAT and governmentality respectively. In our discussion, we suggest that the uniform’s use by the migrant worker alone, does not do justice to its more complete role within the organisation and within society. We follow this up with a review of power and practice within both approaches aimed at launching further productive research and practical activity between both broad schools of thought. We conclude, that both that both Foucauldian and CHAT based studies can point to the expediency of researching power relations in organisations through discursive accounts material practices.