The Rise of the Productive Non-Place

Abstract

In Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Marc Augé defines the archetypal spaces of globalization. The defining factor for Augé is that non-places are transitory, hence any effect they have on us is temporary. This article addresses the expansion of non-places into spaces of habitation and the consequences that ensue from perpetual exposure. This article proposes that the middle-class office is a non-place. Giorgio Agamben's "state of exception" provides a framework for understanding the environment of the contemporary precariat office worker. The non-place and the state of exception share properties of explicit democracy, total visibility, and the perpetual necessity of proving one's innocence and loyalty. The preservation of a sovereign state is transformed in a non-place office into a series of isolated, individual, and anxious performances in an attempt to preserve one's employment. The explicit availability of the individual worker prevents the appearance of identity and community.

Bad Enough Ergonomics

“…The article establishes how the vision shared by all the relevant actors invites active, flexible, and cooperative end-users and how the vision also has potential material effects. The research is an ethnographically inspired case study that draws ideas from discursive psychology.Keywords office furniture, ergonomics, discursive psychology, ethnography, design, office work, soft capitalism, aesthetic economy 2 SAGE Open Gabriel, 2005;Gabriel & Lang, 2008;Gregory, 2011;Hancock & Tyler, 2007;Lopez, 2010; Rafaeli & VilnaiYavetz, 2004;Strati & deMontoux, 2002;Valtonen, 2012;Witz, Warhurst, & Nickson, 2003). This field of research shows how the design of objects and spatial settings for modern organizations is also a physical embodiment of a specific organization's culture and values.…”

“…Analyzing the material and aesthetic dimensions of modern organizational culture has lately become a rich and growing field of critical research (see, for example, Chugh & Hancock, 2009;Cohen, 2010;Dale, 2005;Dean, 2005;Gabriel, 2005;Gabriel & Lang, 2008;Gregory, 2011;Hancock & Tyler, 2007;Lopez, 2010;Rafaeli & VilnaiYavetz, 2004;Strati & deMontoux, 2002;Valtonen, 2012;Witz, Warhurst, & Nickson, 2003). This field of research shows how the design of objects and spatial settings for modern organizations is also a physical embodiment of a specific organization's culture and values.…”