Kate Lockwood Harris
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190876920
- eISBN:
- 9780190876968
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190876920.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Two sets of assumptions—ones about communication and ones about agency—shape debates over the violence–organization relationship. When scholars and laypersons suggest that words are mere symbols that ...
More
Two sets of assumptions—ones about communication and ones about agency—shape debates over the violence–organization relationship. When scholars and laypersons suggest that words are mere symbols that represent the world and correspond to things in it, communication remains a way to describe violence. Under this representationalist line of thinking, communication is split from the material world and cannot do harm. Similarly, when people assume that agency is a human’s intentional decision about how to act, the broader processes that inform action fade from view. An individual perpetrator becomes the sole violent actor. Both sets of assumptions make it difficult to conceptualize an organization’s role in violence. This chapter relies on feminist new materialism to problematize these assumptions. After providing an overview of the theory’s distinctive features, the chapter shows its resonances with existing scholarship on communication, agency, and organizations. These resonances provide a framework for understanding organizations to be more than mere sites for violence.Less
Two sets of assumptions—ones about communication and ones about agency—shape debates over the violence–organization relationship. When scholars and laypersons suggest that words are mere symbols that represent the world and correspond to things in it, communication remains a way to describe violence. Under this representationalist line of thinking, communication is split from the material world and cannot do harm. Similarly, when people assume that agency is a human’s intentional decision about how to act, the broader processes that inform action fade from view. An individual perpetrator becomes the sole violent actor. Both sets of assumptions make it difficult to conceptualize an organization’s role in violence. This chapter relies on feminist new materialism to problematize these assumptions. After providing an overview of the theory’s distinctive features, the chapter shows its resonances with existing scholarship on communication, agency, and organizations. These resonances provide a framework for understanding organizations to be more than mere sites for violence.
Kate Lockwood Harris
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190876920
- eISBN:
- 9780190876968
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190876920.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
The final chapter provides a summary of the book’s key claims. It also applies the arguments developed in previous chapters to other cases, including gun violence on U.S. campuses, the legal standard ...
More
The final chapter provides a summary of the book’s key claims. It also applies the arguments developed in previous chapters to other cases, including gun violence on U.S. campuses, the legal standard “deliberate indifference,” and USA Gymnastics’ problems with sexual assault. In so doing, it shows not only how the book’s arguments transfer to other contexts, but also how a feminist new materialist approach can guide U.S. university responses to high rates of assault. The chapter includes concrete suggestions for how campuses can move “beyond the rapist.” Moreover, through these recommendations and analyses of other cases, the chapter shows how a feminist new materialist approach can build theory about the complex relationships among violence, organization, and communication.Less
The final chapter provides a summary of the book’s key claims. It also applies the arguments developed in previous chapters to other cases, including gun violence on U.S. campuses, the legal standard “deliberate indifference,” and USA Gymnastics’ problems with sexual assault. In so doing, it shows not only how the book’s arguments transfer to other contexts, but also how a feminist new materialist approach can guide U.S. university responses to high rates of assault. The chapter includes concrete suggestions for how campuses can move “beyond the rapist.” Moreover, through these recommendations and analyses of other cases, the chapter shows how a feminist new materialist approach can build theory about the complex relationships among violence, organization, and communication.
