Dear all,

Please find below the call for papers for the Anarchism and Critical Management Studies stream at the 8th International CMS conference to be held in Manchester from the 10th to 12th of July 2013. The final deadline for abstracts submissions is the end of this week, so please do get in touch and send us something as soon as possible if you would like to participate.

One may get the impression with this initiative that we are trying to marry two mutually exclusive traditions: anarchism and management. We would argue that there is in fact nothing exclusive about the study of management, either as a phenomenon of capitalist society or as a mode of organisation, and anarchism. Sadly, the only points of contact between the two seem to have been in the co-opting of anarchist and other radical ideas into mainstream management discourse; for example, think of non-heirarchical, networked workplaces or canteens with vegan options. Is it the case that these and other examples have been deprived through their integration of their powerful ethical and political potentials, or can they be salvaged for radical political praxis?

To say the least, management annoys us intensely, primarily because it is more often than not the management of one group of people by other people: workers by managers, women by men, non-white people by white people, and so on. This is one point at which anarcha-feminism, queer anarchism and postcolinial theory can intervene in the debate around anarchism and management, and we would encourage anyone working on the intersection between anarcha-feminist theory, queer theory or anarchist race theory and how these relate to contemporary business and management to consider submitting an abstract. We recognise that our original call for submissions didn’t reflect this openness to a complete picture of the social and political struggle against capital and as a result perhaps excluded many non-male and non-white academics, but we assure you this was not intentional and we more than welcome submissions dealing with all aspects of anarchist theory and how they relate to management and business, both in terms of critiquing mainstream models and realities and defining alternatives.

Another thing we want to encourage is submissions that deal with topics that are perhaps sometimes considered peripheral to management but that are nonetheless crucial to the development of both business and anarchist struggle (if such a neutral appreciation of a means can be accepted); for example, marketing and PR, economic analysis, etc.

If you or any of your friends and/or colleagues are working on anything that would fit within this broad definition of anarchism and critical management studies, then please do get in touch with us as soon as possible.

Critical Management Studies and Anarchism

Conveners: Thomas Swann, Konstantin Stoborod (University of Leicester) and Stevphen Shukaitis (University of Essex)

As the topic of the Critical Management Studies (CMS) 2013 conference points out, CMS has drawn on a wide range of radical and left-wing theories in seeking to understand how management and capitalism works today. While Marxism and feminism are readily referred to as underpinning CMS, anarchism is often overlooked as potentially offering a valuable perspective on this problematic; both in attempting to provide a framework of understanding for the recent uprisings and revolutions, and as having a perhaps unique position on the question of meta-narratives and grand theories of social conflict and change. Looking at anarchist thought within the context of CMS could be a very rewarding exercise and is indeed long overdue. This sub-stream is part of a larger effort that began at the Anarchist Studies Conference in September 2012 with a stream on anarchism and CMS and will continue in the coming years with the publication of a special issue of the journal ephemera: theory and politics in organization.

As Gibson Burrell noted twenty years ago, there is a ‘growing number of alternative organisational forms now appearing, whether inspired by anarchism, syndicalism, the ecological movement, the co-operative movement, libertarian communism, self-help groups or, perhaps most importantly, by feminism’ (1992: 82). Despite anarchism appearing first in his list of inspirations for alternative organisation and having a history at least as old as Marxism and feminism, there has been relatively little research on anarchism and its principles within management studies. Notable exceptions include some works under the umbrella of critical management studies (Reedy, 2002; Parker, Fournier and Reedy, 2007).

Anarchist writers have, however, much to say about organisation and management, especially when it comes to outlining ideas for alternatives to capitalism. From the earliest days of the anarchist movement, writers including Proudhon (2011), Bakunin (1971) and Kropotkin (1970) spoke of federalism and voluntary association as organisational forms that would eclipse those of capitalist and hierarchical society. In the 20th century, Goldman (1910) and Bookchin (2004), among others, focused anarchist theory on questions of gender and sexuality and ecology respectively, while others such as Ward (1973) sought to develop anarchism as a science of organisation. In recent years, following the struggles of the alter-globalisation movement, anarchist theory has come to stress the importance of democratic organising, direct action (Graeber 2009) and prefiguration (Franks 2006).

Drawing on these and other anarchist thinkers, CMS has the potential to say something important about the current developments in the global political economy, as well as more localised manifestations of its dynamics and logic in the form of management and organisation. As well as leveling critique at contemporary capitalism, anarchism’s strong focus on prefiguring alternatives and on building new forms of organisation in and through struggle with the old could be a point of convergence in bringing anarchism and CMS into discussion with one another. Within this framework there is ample scope for examining and trying to account for the events of the last four or five years.

The aim of this sub-theme is to flag up the relevance of anarchism and anarchist thought for CMS. This has to be attained by bringing anarchist ideas about management, organisation and the nature of capitalism to bear on CMS. This should not be limited to simple borrowing from handy anarchist concepts for the purposes of making CMS a more varied discipline, but must include a more thorough engagement with the richness of the anarchist theoretical tradition. This will help in finding out where the productive overlap between two paradigms already exists as well as identifying the lacunas which need to be filled. We particularly welcome examples of how and where intervention from (critical) management studies is needed to rethink the salient issues of the day when it comes to alternatives to global capitalism, as well as a discussion of what anarchist theory has to offer alongside various forms of organising. It would be interesting to receive submissions from those reflecting on anarchism and anarchist practices from a CMS perspective for the first time. We invite scholars to examine their own research and experiences through the lens of anarchism, hopefully as a way to further develop their thought. Examples of broad topics we would welcome include:



·          Organisational norms and practices in 21st century radical social movements
·          Anarcha-feminist critiques on 'feminism' in mainstream management theory
·          Economic, political, social and environmental protests
·          How can anarchists understand the role of race in business and politics?
·          Can anarchism be found (or lost) in the business school?
·          The relationship between post-Marxism and anarchism
·          Radical queer theory and ideas of gender in the workplace
·          Postanarchist critiques on meta-narratives following the economic crisis
·          New technologies, new attitudes and their effects on horizontality in organising
·          Business ethics and anarchist ethics
·          Leadership: managerial and anarchist perspectives
·          Promotion and “marketing” of anarchist theory and practice
·          Embodiment and performativity in protest movements
·          Emotions and affectivity of the alternative
·          Global anti-authoritarian and/or anti-capitalist trends reflected in local practices
·          Anarchism as the outsider of CMS
·          Is there a science of anarchist organisation?
·          The promise of radical opportunity always being elsewhere


Submission of Abstracts


Please submit abstracts (300-500 words, A4 paper, single spaced, 12 point font) to Konstantin Stoborod ([log in to unmask]), Thomas Swann ([log in to unmask]). Deadline: 1st of March 2013.

Notification of paper acceptance: 8th March 2013

Full papers will be expected by 1st May 2013


Your abstract should include:

Title

The focus, aims and objectives of the paper

The research evidence base underpinning the paper

How the paper will contribute to the theme


References

·          Bakunin, M. (1971) Bakunin on Anarchy (edited and translated by Sam Dolgoff). New York: Vintage Books.
·          Bookchin, M. (2004) Post-scarcity Anarchism. Edinburgh: AK Press.
·          Burrel, G. (1992) ‘The Organization of Pleasure’, in M. Alvesson and H. Willmott (eds.) Critical Management Studies, pp. 66-89. London: SAGE.
·          Franks, B. (2006) Rebel Alliances. The Means and Ends of Contemporary British Anarchisms. Edinburgh: AK Press.
·          Goldman, E. (1910) Anarchism and Other Essays. Mother Earth Publishing Association.
·          Graeber, D. (2009) Direct Action: An Ethnography. Edinburgh: AK Press.
·          Kropotkin, P. (1970) Selected writings on Anarchism and Revolution (edited by Martin A. Miller). Massachusetts: MIT Press.
·          Parker, M., V. Fournier and P. Reedy (2007) Dictionary of Alternatives. New York: Zed Books.
·          Proudhon, J.-P. (2011) Property is Theft! A Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Reader (edited and translated by Ian McKay). Edinburgh: AK Press.
·          Reedy, P. (2002) ‘Keeping the Black Flag Flying: Anarchy, Utopia and the Politics of Nostalgia’, in M. Parker (ed.) Utopia and Organization, pp. 169-188. Malden: Blackwell.
·          Ward, C. (1973) Anarchy in Action. London: George Allen and Unwin Press.



Thomas Swann

PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant

School of Management
Ken Edwards Building
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester
LE1 7RH

T: +44 (0) 116 252 5520

F: +44 (0) 116 252 3949

E: [log in to unmask]