Shape Shifting Capital: New Management and the Bodily Metaphors of Spiritual Capitalism

There is a burgeoning and increasingly institutionalized discourse within organizational theory and business practice dedicated to exploring the intersections of “religion” and “spirituality” at work. Turning especially to the broadly influential management theory of Margaret Wheatley, I locate “spiritual” management within a contemporary management ethos characterized by both an increasing interest in transitive phenomena and pre‐conscious understanding and the wholesale deregulation of industrial metaphors for society in favor of holistic, cybernetic and global metaphors for a networked society. Turning to the phenomenological and existential anthropology of the anthropologist, Michael Jackson, I argue that social theories, whether industrial or post‐industrial, can never claim a full and final grasp over the total processes of life itself. Methodologically, I argue that we might seek to attend to the personal and social dimensions of new “workplace spirituality” contexts by paying careful empirical attention to the practical deployments and personalizations of the lived metaphors of “spiritual” capitalism, considered for these purposes to be important “patterns of intersubjective experience”. What Jackson refers to as “phenomenological and existential deconstruction” has a political edge to it because it always seeks to force abstract theory into a more empirically grounded relationship with life as it is actually lived. As Marx and various critical theories have suggested, the particular experiences of workers often resist and confound the sanitized and universalized ideologies of capital.     

Introduction thématique à la Iittérature latino-américaine

Latin-american literature during the past twenty years has enjoyed a success which goes beyond its regional setting. Most assuredly, this success is a function of its artistic merit. At the same time, in a continent where freedom of expression is seldom found artistic creativity is not simply an exclusive function of esthetic considerations. In addition, it can become a substitute for political language and debate. These symbolic narratives therefore represent an instrument for the analysis of Lation-aimerican reality. The present study considers literature in this context.
La littérature latino-américaine des vingt dernières années a connu un succès qui dépasse largement le cadre régional. Certes, ce succès correspond à sa valeur artistique. Mais dans un continent où la liberté d'expression constitue une pratique peu courante, la créativité cesse d'être un simple moyen de diffusion esthétique. Elle devient forcément un substitut du langage politique. Les récits symboliques représentent alors un instrument pour l'analyse de la réalité latino-américaine, des idéologies qui s'y affrontent et des formes sémantiques qui les véhiculent. Le présent travail est proposé dans la perspective de cette analyse.     

LEARNING BUT NOT EARNING? THE IMPACT OF JOB CORPS TRAINING ON HISPANIC YOUTH

Why did Hispanics who participated in Job Corps (JC) training not experience earnings gains like whites and blacks, despite achieving similar human capital gains? We find that the differential labor market outcomes of each group are related to the different levels of local labor market unemployment rates (LUR) they face. Furthermore, the groups exhibit differential impacts on their earnings from the LUR they face, which also vary by randomization status. We find that (a) blacks and Hispanics face higher LUR that mitigate their potential gains from JC and (b) JC “shields” whites from adverse LUR, but not blacks and Hispanics. (JEL J24, J13, J15)