The Triumph of Emptiness

Consumption, Higher Education, and Work Organization

AvMats Alvesson

Inbunden, Engelska, 2013

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Häftad

507 kr

Beskrivning

In this book, Mats Alvesson aims to demystify some popular and upbeat claims about a range of phenomena, including the knowledge society, consumption, branding, higher education, organizational change, professionalization, and leadership. He contends that a culture of grandiosity is leading to numerous inflated claims. We no longer talk about plans but strategies. Supervisors have been replaced by managers. Goods have become brands. Wealthy countries try to show that they are knowledge societies through mass higher education but with limited effect on real qualifications or qualified job opportunities for graduates. The book views the contemporary economy as an economy of persuasion, where firms and other institutions increasingly assign talent, energy, and resources to rhetoric, image, branding, reputation, and visibility.Using a wide range of empirical examples to illuminate the realms of consumption, higher education, organization, and leadership, this provocative and engaging book challenges established assumptions and contributes to a critical understanding of society as a whole.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2013-05-30
Mått:163 x 240 x 25 mm
Vikt:656 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:254
Förlag:OUP OXFORD
ISBN:9780199660940

Utforska kategorier

Sociologi inom Samhälle och politik
Organisationsteori inom Ekonomi och Ledarskap

Mer om författaren

Mats Alvesson is Professor of Business Administration at the University of Lund, Sweden and at University of Queensland Business School, Australia. Recent books include Qualitative Research and Theory Development (Sage 2011, with Dan Kärreman), Interpreting Interviews (Sage 2011), Metaphor we Lead By: Understanding Leadership in the Real World (Routledge 2011, ed with Andre Spicer), The Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies (Oxford University Press, edited with Todd Bridgman and Hugh Willmott), Understanding Gender and Organizations (Sage, 2009, 2nd ed, with Yvonne Billing), Reflexive Methodology (Sage, 2009, 2nd ed, with Kaj Skoldberg), Changing Organizational Culture (Routledge 2008, with Stefan Sveningsson), Knowledge Work and Knowledge-Intensive Firms (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Recensioner i media

Alvesson finds grandiosity at work behind an array of disconcerting phenomena, from a narcissistic socialmedia culture, to a hyper-adrenalised yet helplessly inane 24-hour news media cycle, to the explosion of public-relations firms and branding efforts.

Innehållsförteckning

1. Introduction - Zero-Sum Games, Grandiosity, and Illusion Tricks ; 2. Consumption - the Shortcomings of Affluence ; 3. Explaining the Consumption Paradox: Why aren't People (More) Satisfied? ; 4. Higher Education - Triumph of the Knowledge Intensive Society or a Statistical Cosmetics Project? ; 5. Higher Education - an Image-Boosting Business? ; 6. Modern Working Life and Organizations - Change, Dynamism, and Post-Bureaucracy? ; 7. Organizational Structures on the Beauty Parade: Imitation and Shop-Window Dressing ; 8. A Place in the Sun - Occupational Groups' Professionalization Projects and Other Status and Influence Ambitions ; 9. Leadership - A Driving Force or Empty Talk ; 10. The Triumph of Imagology - A Paradise for Tricksters? ; 11. The Costs of Grandiosity