Thesis
Organisations as sites of hegemonic struggle : an investigation into the micro cultural interactive processes that both produce and protect hegemony in a contemporary organisation
- Creator
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2008
- Thesis identifier
- T12008
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Drawing on empirical research material from a Public Sector Service Organisation and secondary literature, this thesis explores the processes that produce, protect and facilitate the migration of hegemony in organisations. The purpose of the thesis is to contribute to the body of theory that describes and explains hegemonic processes. This thesis draws in particular on the theory of hegemony developed by Gramsci (1971) who is a common source that researchers of hegemony use. Gramsci proposed a three-dimensional model of hegemony, which contrasts with much of the Organisation and Management Studies literature in which hegemony is sometimes understood as a one-dimensional concept; as a form of socio-ideological control. This thesis seeks to make a contribution to the Organisation and Management Studies literature by synthesising the broader Gramscian conception with aspects of other applicable theories (Opler, 1945; Goffman, 1959; Blumer, 1969, Spradley, 1980; Bourdieu, 1991; and Humphreys and Brown, 2002) and the constructs that emerge from empirical analysis, thereby developing a more encompassing explanatory model of the operation of hegemony in organisations. The findings of this research concur with Gramsci's conceptualisation of hegemony as a three-dimensional phenomenon: (1) a form of power; (2) as a dimension of social construction processes; and (3) as a theory of social change. Whilst Gramsci's model is intended to operate at the macro level of societal processes; it is not itself sufficient to explain the micro processes of hegemony. The Gramscian model will be supplemented using concepts derived from grounded theorising, informed by a literature review, on the basis of empirical research at the micro level of interaction within an organisational setting. This thesis develops and illustrates the application of a composite model through an ethnographic study which traces hegemonic practices as they impact on identities and perceived realities in the workplace. The emergent model seeks to explain, at the micro level of analysis, how hegemony is produced, migrates, and is protected within organisations.
- Resource Type
- DOI
- EThOS ID
- uk.bl.ethos.488501
- Date Created
- 2008
- Former identifier
- 775052
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