Responding to class theft: Theoretical and empirical links to critical management studies

Abstract

This paper suggests closer linkages between the fields of Postmodern Class Analysis (PCA) and Critical Management Studies (CMS)2 are possible. It argues that CMS might contribute to the empirical engagement with the over-determined relations between class and non-class processes in work organizations (this appears to have received relatively little attention in PCA) and that PCA's theoretical and conceptual commitments may provide one means for CMS to engage in class analysis. CMS's focus on power and symbolic relations has led to the relative neglect of exploitation and class, in surplus terms. Both fields share similar although not identical political and ethical commitments.