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The Paradox of Empowerment Suspended Power and the Possibility of Resistance
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Ronald F. Wendt
Foreword by Isaac E. Catt
Book Code: C7233
ISBN: 0-275-97233-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97233-2
224 pages, tables
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 4/30/2001
List Price: $106.95 (UK Sterling Price: £59.95)
Availability: Out of stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
  • Endorsement From H. L. Goodall, Jr.
    Professor and Head, Department of Communication
    University of North Carolina at Greensboro:     Ron Wendt has written a very smart, entirely engaging, and at many turns, surprising and creative account of the subtle but pervasive power of communication double binds within the contexts of supposed `empowerment' in everyday organizational life. Combining his considerable skills as a critical theorist with first-rate ethnographic accounts, he provides readers with a wide-ranging tour of hegemonic structures understood as inherent parts of existing communication and capitalist systems. Wendt's vision incorporates the timeless wisdom of Zen into our understanding of these relations. I recommend this book to anyone interested in organizational studies, critical theory, and communication.
Description: Wendt provides a collection of critical stories examining the power and politics of organizational life. He looks at workers in frustrating situations and explores a new type of power that is simultaneously beneficial and detrimental. The talk, language, and discourse that constitute the micro-paradoxes of work life are investigated. Starting with the concept of corporate hegemony, Wendt looks at its language, provides stories illustrating hegemony, and helps the reader envision how hegemony carries over to other social realms like higher education. After exploring the possibility of counter-hegemonic resistance, including tactical storytelling, Wendt sets forth a new theory of suspended power. While he shows there is no clear answer or response to the politics of corporate hegemony because it is a persistent dilemma, he points the reader to the uses of critical theory to understand and adjust to contemporary power dynamics. Of particular interest to scholars and students involved with communication, management, and cultural studies.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction: Corporate Hegemony and the Possibility of Resistance
  • Part I
  • All the Way Down and All the Way Back: Toward a Critical-Postmodern Hermeneutics
  • Hegemonic Double Binds
  • The Sound of One Hand Clapping: Counterintuitive Lessons Extracted from Paradoxes and Double Binds in Participative Organizations
  • Part II
  • Women in Positions of Service: The Politicized Body
  • The Too Aggressive--Not Aggressive Enough Paradox
  • Part III
  • Corporate Lampoonery as a Hermeneutic Sign of Our Times: Reading "Dilbert" from Critical and Post-structuralist Perspectives
  • The Corporate Consumption of Higher Education
  • Technology and McEducation
  • Part IV
  • Building Resistance(s) Through Radical Pedagogy and Tactical Storytelling
  • A Critical Reflection
  • Epilogue: A Skeptic's Forecast
  • Notes
  • References
  • Index
LC Card Number: 00-049193
LCC Class: HM791
Dewey Class: 306
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