Abstract
This is a paper about different ways of revealing materials, and a theory of organization. It moves through a kaleidoscope of perspectives which reveal the tower crane as made through its relations with a series of different ways of seeing – engineering and mathematics, capitalist economics, and a workplace labour process. It employs a wide variety of sources, including some interviews that I have done with crane drivers. I then move into an account of the modernist fascination with technology, particularly Soviet constructivism. The latter provides the theoretical scaffolding which allows me to see the crane as a temporary stabilization of structure, and structure as an arrangement of planes and lines of force which allows certain moves just as it prevents others. This is a way of saying that an adequate understanding of ‘organization’ requires thinking multiples and relations. Nodding towards Deleuze and Guattari towards the end, I suggest that cranes are good to think with for these multiple purposes, but that any assemblage would do.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 989-1004 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Organization Studies |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 26 Sep 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2017 |
Keywords
- construction
- constructivism
- futurism
- materials
- socio-technical
- tower cranes
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Professor Martin Parker
- School of Management - Professor of Organisation Studies
- Bristol Poverty Institute
Person: Academic , Member