“That type of thing does give you a boost”: control, self‐valorisation, and autonomist worker copings in call centres

Hastings, T. and Cumbers, A. (2019) “That type of thing does give you a boost”: control, self‐valorisation, and autonomist worker copings in call centres. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography, 51(5), pp. 1456-1473. (doi: 10.1111/anti.12567)

Abstract

There are growing concerns over current and future incarnations of routine work, based on the rise of technology and its perceived impact on skill requirements in the labour market. Drawing on Autonomist Marxist (AM) literature, the following article demonstrates how and why workers are likely to play a role in maintaining meaningful forms of work. Complimenting labour process research, which focuses on the role of worker “resistance” in the workplace, we develop a more nuanced perspective on worker agency and the human potential to create meaning through self‐governance in even the most unlikely service work encounters. Taking resilience and reworking agencies as subtle forms of “self‐valorisation”, we show how different spaces of routine work are mobilised for reproducing human connections and values in ways which act in opposition to management’s control and the evolution of unpleasant work environments.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: Economic and Social Research Council. Grant Number: PTA‐031‐2006‐00461.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cumbers, Professor Andrew
• Authors: Hastings, T., and Cumbers, A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 0066-4812
• ISSN (Online): 1467-8330
• Published Online: 20 September 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Authors and antipode Foundation Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography 51(5): 1456-1473
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy