The state of affairs: : critical performativity and the online dating industry
- Autores: Philip Roscoe, Shiona Chillas
- Localización: Organization, ISSN-e 1461-7323, Vol. 21, Nº. 6, 2014, págs. 797-820
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
In this article we pursue a dialogue between Callon�s (1998) �performativity thesis� and Critical Management Studies (CMS). We make use of the performativity thesis to elaborate on the construction of a market and the generation of calculative and rational economic agency in a specific empirical setting: the markets for relationships offered by dating services. We find evidence for �effective� performativity, where technical processes and outcomes are shaped by academic theory. We link the performativity analysis with three critical perspectives: a novel enclosure in the commodification and sale of relationships; the politics of standardization, classification, expertise and responsibility; and the enactment of instrumentally rational, self-interested social relations through the individualist assumptions of matching systems. We argue that a performativity analysis must begin with a critical politics: what kind of world would we like to see performed?
