Melissa Tyler

2020 will mark thirty years since the first publication of Judith Butler’s ground-breaking book, Gender Trouble. Here, and in subsequent work, Butler argues that gender and other forms of identity can best be understood as performative acts. These acts are what bring our subjectivities into existence, enabling us to be recognized as viable employable social beings, worthy of rights, responsibilities and respect. The three decades since the publication of Gender Trouble have witnessed Butler become one of the most widely cited and controversial figures in contemporary feminist thinking. While it is only in her most recent work that Butler has engaged directly with themes such as work and organization, her writing has profound implications for thinking, and acting, on the relationship between power, recognition and organization. Whilst her ideas have made important in-roads into work, organization and gender studies that are discussed here, there is considerable scope to explore further avenues that her concepts and theories open up. These inroads and avenues are the focus of this book. Judith Butler and Organization Theory makes a substantial contribution to the analysis of gender, work and organization. It not only covers central issues in Butler’s work, it also offers a close reading of the complexities and nuances in her thought. It does so by ‘reading’ Butler as a theorist of organization, whose work resonates with scholars, practitioners and activists concerned to understand and engage with organizational life, organization and organizing. Drawing from a range of illustrative examples, the book examines key texts or ‘moments’ in the development of Butler’s writing to date, positing her as a thinker concerned to understand and address the ways in which our most basic desire for recognition comes to be organized within the context of contemporary labour markets and workplaces. It examines insights from Butler’s work, and the philosophical ideas she draws on, considering the impact of these on work, organization and management studies thus far; it also explores some of the many ways in which her thinking might be mobilized in future, considering what scope there is for a non-violent ethics of organization, and for a (re)assembling of the relationship between vulnerability and resistance within and through organizational politics.

How might vulnerability be rethought beyond its traditional associations with weakness and reimagined as the basis of solidarity? Across the world, there are unprecedented numbers of dispossessed people; rights and resources are increasingly inaccessible to those who need them most, and the responsibilities we have to one another are continually undermined and exploited. Referencing three sets of social relations – breathing, grieving and appearing, this book examines how recognition of our shared but always socially situated vulnerability could be the basis for organizing our lives in ways that better support relationality, solidarity and care, now and for the future.

How might vulnerability be rethought beyond its traditional associations with weakness and reimagined as the basis of solidarity? Across the world, there are unprecedented numbers of dispossessed people; rights and resources are increasingly inaccessible to those who need them most, and the responsibilities we have to one another are continually undermined and exploited. Referencing three sets of social relations – breathing, grieving and appearing, this book examines how recognition of our shared but always socially situated vulnerability could be the basis for organizing our lives in ways that better support relationality, solidarity and care, now and for the future.

This open access book focuses on the distinctive experiences of freelance and self-employed live performers in the UK’s live entertainment industries It provides an in-depth account of their working lives during COVID-19, showing how their experiences of the pandemic provide insight into the different types of precarity shaping what it means to be a live performer. A growing body of academic research has focused on the meaning, experience, and nature of precarity for those working in the cultural and creative sector, highlighting the problem of socio-economic precarity. This book demonstrates how a constant struggle for recognition also shapes the contours and lived experiences of live performance work. It emphasizes how, combined with affective and socio-economic forms of precarity, this recognitive precarity creates a distinctive and challenging set of working conditions. Drawing on original data generated through a national survey of self-employed and freelance performers across the live entertainment industries, combined with insights derived from a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews, this book presents an empirically rich insight into the struggles and opportunities presented by the multiple forms of precarity that the pandemic brought to the fore. It gives voice to a precarious workforce that remains integral to one of the UK’s most economically buoyant sectors but whose experiences are often marginalized in academic research, and in policy and practice. It will, therefore, offer a unique insight for both students and scholars of work and employment, and for those working in the cultural and creative sector, into the distinctive nature of work as a freelance or self-employed live performer.

What is it like to work in a place that is both a thriving and close-knit community and a globally recognised part of the commercial sex industry? London's Soho has always been a place of complexity, contrast and change throughout its colourful history, yet urban branding, local community initiatives and licensing regulations have combined to 'clean up' Soho, arguably to the point of sanitisation, and commercial over-development remains a continuing threat. In spite of all this, Soho retains its edge and remains a unique place to live, work and consume. Based on a ten-year ethnographic study of working in Soho's sex shops, combining archival material, literary sources, photographic materials and interviews with men and women employed there, Tyler draws together insights from history, geography and cultural studies to tell the unseen story of this fascinating work place.

What is it like to work in a place that is both a thriving and close-knit community and a globally recognised part of the commercial sex industry? London's Soho has always been a place of complexity, contrast and change throughout its colourful history, yet urban branding, local community initiatives and licensing regulations have combined to 'clean up' Soho, arguably to the point of sanitisation, and commercial over-development remains a continuing threat. In spite of all this, Soho retains its edge and remains a unique place to live, work and consume. Based on a ten-year ethnographic study of working in Soho's sex shops, combining archival material, literary sources, photographic materials and interviews with men and women employed there, Tyler draws together insights from history, geography and cultural studies to tell the unseen story of this fascinating work place.

2020 will mark thirty years since the first publication of Judith Butler’s ground-breaking book, Gender Trouble. Here, and in subsequent work, Butler argues that gender and other forms of identity can best be understood as performative acts. These acts are what bring our subjectivities into existence, enabling us to be recognized as viable employable social beings, worthy of rights, responsibilities and respect. The three decades since the publication of Gender Trouble have witnessed Butler become one of the most widely cited and controversial figures in contemporary feminist thinking. While it is only in her most recent work that Butler has engaged directly with themes such as work and organization, her writing has profound implications for thinking, and acting, on the relationship between power, recognition and organization. Whilst her ideas have made important in-roads into work, organization and gender studies that are discussed here, there is considerable scope to explore further avenues that her concepts and theories open up. These inroads and avenues are the focus of this book. Judith Butler and Organization Theory makes a substantial contribution to the analysis of gender, work and organization. It not only covers central issues in Butler’s work, it also offers a close reading of the complexities and nuances in her thought. It does so by ‘reading’ Butler as a theorist of organization, whose work resonates with scholars, practitioners and activists concerned to understand and engage with organizational life, organization and organizing. Drawing from a range of illustrative examples, the book examines key texts or ‘moments’ in the development of Butler’s writing to date, positing her as a thinker concerned to understand and address the ways in which our most basic desire for recognition comes to be organized within the context of contemporary labour markets and workplaces. It examines insights from Butler’s work, and the philosophical ideas she draws on, considering the impact of these on work, organization and management studies thus far; it also explores some of the many ways in which her thinking might be mobilized in future, considering what scope there is for a non-violent ethics of organization, and for a (re)assembling of the relationship between vulnerability and resistance within and through organizational politics.

A 12-book collection of historical erotic stories during times in history when certain liaisons were totally forbidden. The explosive cocktail of danger and sex can be sometimes irresistible. Featuring hard, rugged black field workers. These shocking stories will take you on a hot, tumultuous journey into a raw, savage, world of brutality and injustice. The forbidden fruit can sometimes be the tastiest. Get all 12 of these forbidden fantasies in one collection where everything is complicated and secret and illicit desires can be just too tantalizing to resist.

The practices and values of management are increasingly shaping the management of life outside of work. Here, experts reflect critically on the implications this has for our everyday experiences of self and society. The book helps students to reflect critically on the relationship between management and changes in the organization of work.

This third edition of this best-selling book confirms the ongoing centrality of feminist perspectives and research to the sociological enterprise, and introduces students to the wide range of feminist contributions in key areas of sociological concern. Completely revised, this edition includes:new chapters on sexuality and the mediaadditional material on race and ethnicity, disability and the bodymany new international and comparative examplesthe influence of theories of globalization and post-colonial studies. In addition, the theoretical elements have also been fully rethought in light of recent developments in social theory. Written by three experienced teachers and examiners, this book gives students of sociology and women's studies an accessible overview of the feminist contribution to all the key areas of sociological concern.

This third edition of this best-selling book confirms the ongoing centrality of feminist perspectives and research to the sociological enterprise, and introduces students to the wide range of feminist contributions in key areas of sociological concern. Completely revised, this edition includes:new chapters on sexuality and the mediaadditional material on race and ethnicity, disability and the bodymany new international and comparative examplesthe influence of theories of globalization and post-colonial studies. In addition, the theoretical elements have also been fully rethought in light of recent developments in social theory. Written by three experienced teachers and examiners, this book gives students of sociology and women's studies an accessible overview of the feminist contribution to all the key areas of sociological concern.