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Getting rid of the boss for building postcapitalist futures: How non-hierarchical work practices of two Quebec-based initiatives impact livelihoods

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Getting rid of the boss for building postcapitalist futures: How non-hierarchical work practices of two Quebec-based initiatives impact livelihoods

Roy, Mathieu (2019) Getting rid of the boss for building postcapitalist futures: How non-hierarchical work practices of two Quebec-based initiatives impact livelihoods. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

In the aftermaths of the 2008 economic crisis, with rising inequalities and environmental destruction, many people are looking for alternatives to the capitalist economy to nourish sustainable futures. Getting rid of hierarchy in the workplace is an idea that has been defended for over a century in many places to challenge the capitalist economy and its exploitation of human beings and nature. Using participant observations and descriptions based on the diverse economy framework developed by JK Gibson-Graham (2006; Gibson-Graham, Cameron & Healy. 2013), interesting non-hierarchical work practices taking place in two Quebec-based economic initiatives are unveiled and analyzed, exposing how these can impact livelihoods in a perspective of building just and sustainable postcapitalist futures. Without falling into the defence of a rigid model of transformation of the economy for a revolutionary agenda, the analysis exposes how non-hierarchical work practices are part of a plurality of practices, framed by organizational principles, that are negotiated amongst workers in the pursuit of their general well-being and the quality of their livelihoods. The impacts are presented and analyzed in relations to the sense of work, working conditions and inequalities and their articulations in the construction and negotiation of individual livelihoods. With this approach, we go beyond theoretical descriptions of workplace democracy and offer insights and reflections for further work on the actual enactment of the dismantlement of hierarchy at work.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > School of Community and Public Affairs
Concordia University > School of Graduate Studies > Individualized Program
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Roy, Mathieu
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A.
Program:Individualized Program
Date:March 2019
Thesis Supervisor(s):Kruzynski, Anna
Keywords:non-hierarchical; postcapitalism; cooperative; autogestion; work practices; economic alternatives
ID Code:985144
Deposited By: Mathieu Roy
Deposited On:17 Jun 2019 16:18
Last Modified:17 Jun 2019 16:18
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