The need for fresh blood: Understanding organizational age inequality through a vampiric lens

Riach, K. and Kelly, S. (2015) The need for fresh blood: Understanding organizational age inequality through a vampiric lens. Organization, 22(3), pp. 287-305. (doi: 10.1177/1350508413508999)

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Abstract

This article argues that older age inequality within and across working life is the result of vampiric forms and structures constitutive of contemporary organizing. Rather than assuming ageism occurs against a backdrop of neutral organizational processes and practices, the article denaturalizes (and in the process super-naturalizes) organizational orientations of ageing through three vampiric aspects: (un)dying, regeneration and neophilia. These dimensions are used to illustrate how workplace narratives and logics normalize and perpetuate the systematic denigration of the ageing organizational subject. Through our analysis it is argued that older workers are positioned as inevitable ‘sacrificial objects’ of the all-consuming immortal organization. To challenge this, the article explicitly draws on the vampire and the vampiric in literature and popular culture to consider the possibility of subverting existing notions of the ‘older worker’ in order to confront and challenge the subtle and persistent monstrous discourses that shape organizational life.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Riach, Professor Kathleen
Authors: Riach, K., and Kelly, S.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
Journal Name:Organization
Publisher:SAGE
ISSN:1350-5084
ISSN (Online):1461-7323
Published Online:07 November 2013

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