THE ACTIVE WORKER

Abstract

Both management and neo-Marxist theories of the workplace conceptualize workers as anesthetized. Workers are considered either as objects to be manipulated by managers or as reactive beings whose behavior and consciousness are determined by capitalist social structure. The conceptual recognition of workers' autonomous behaviors is typically limited to either a condemnation of foot-dragging (for those with a management viewpoint) or a glorification of resistance (for those with a more radical viewpoint). However, workers are active on their own terms and as motivated by their own agendas. These agendas are much more diverse than those theoretically allowed them by management theory or radical social science theory and include both compliance and resistance as well as autonomous creative effort to structure their own work. The author uses field research techniques to develop a model of workers' behaviors that puts workers' own agendas at the fore. It was found that the struggle for control of work is a central focus for workers, but this struggle occurs as frequently against co-workers as against management. A more active model of workers' behaviors suggests new directions for research and theoretical development.