‘A science to it’: flexible time and flexible subjectivity in the digital workplace

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Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Volume 7, Issue 1

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‘A science to it’: flexible time and flexible subjectivity in the digital workplace

research-article

Author(s): Frederick Pitts

Publication date (Print): Summer 2013

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

This paper details a research project exploring how working time is structured in the digital industries in the UK, drawing on a case study of a Bristol web enterprise situated in the 'Silicon Gorge’ high-tech hub, and incorporating ethnography, interviews, observation and time diaries. The role of the Internet in blurring the demarcation between paid and unpaid labour features prominently in the work patterns of the research participants. The culture of flexibility that abounds in the case study company harnesses the subjectivities and selves of individual employees to a cycle of ‘project time’ centred around specific tasks and deadlines, completely divorced from recognition of an individual's contribution based on traditional temporal measures.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 1745641X

ISSN (Electronic): 17456428

Publication date (Print): Summer 2013

Volume: 7

Issue: 1

Pages: 95-105

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.7.1.0095

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.7.1.0095

SO-VID: aac6a3c4-869b-4f8d-baa7-a3e65f911db8

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History

ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

References

Bryman, A. (2004) Social Research Methods . 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gershuny, J. (2011) Time-Use Surveys and the Measurement of National Well-Being , Oxford: Centre for Time Use Research.
Glaser B. G. & Strauss A. L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research , New York: Aldine Publishing Company.
Lazzarato, M. (1996) ‘Immaterial Labor’, Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics , P. Virno & M. Hardt (eds), University of Minnesota Press:133–150
Perlow, L.A. (2001) ‘Time to Coordinate: Toward an Understanding of Work-Time Standards and Norms in a Multicountry Study of Software Engineers’, Work and Occupations , 28:91–111
Ross, A. (2003) No-Collar: The Humane Workplace and Its Hidden Costs , New York: Basic Books.
Sayer, A. (2002) Method in Social Science , London: Routledge.
Shih, J. (2004) ‘Project Time in Silicon Valley’, Qualitative Sociology , 27(2):223–245
Tapia, A. H. (2004) ‘The power of myth in the IT workplace: Creating a 24-hour workday during the dot-com bubble’, Information Technology & People 17(3):303–326
Virno, P. & Hardt, M. (1996) Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics , Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Economist (2011a) ‘How the West was won’ The Economist . August 6:24
Economist (2011b) ‘Where's Britain's Bill Gates?’ The Economist . August 6:13

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Bryman, A. (2004) Social Research Methods . 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[2] Gershuny, J. (2011) Time-Use Surveys and the Measurement of National Well-Being , Oxford: Centre for Time Use Research.

[3] Glaser B. G. & Strauss A. L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research , New York: Aldine Publishing Company.

[4] Lazzarato, M. (1996) ‘Immaterial Labor’, Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics , P. Virno & M. Hardt (eds), University of Minnesota Press:133–150

[5] Perlow, L.A. (2001) ‘Time to Coordinate: Toward an Understanding of Work-Time Standards and Norms in a Multicountry Study of Software Engineers’, Work and Occupations , 28:91–111

[6] Ross, A. (2003) No-Collar: The Humane Workplace and Its Hidden Costs , New York: Basic Books.

[7] Sayer, A. (2002) Method in Social Science , London: Routledge.

[8] Shih, J. (2004) ‘Project Time in Silicon Valley’, Qualitative Sociology , 27(2):223–245

[9] Tapia, A. H. (2004) ‘The power of myth in the IT workplace: Creating a 24-hour workday during the dot-com bubble’, Information Technology & People 17(3):303–326

[10] Virno, P. & Hardt, M. (1996) Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics , Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

[11] Economist (2011a) ‘How the West was won’ The Economist . August 6:24

[12] Economist (2011b) ‘Where's Britain's Bill Gates?’ The Economist . August 6:13