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.