IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v31y2024i4p1385-1408.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organizing vulnerability exploring Judith Butler's conceptualization of vulnerability to study organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Isabella Scheibmayr

Abstract

This paper argues that vulnerability as conceptualized by Judith Butler is a useful lens to study organizations. Judith Butler conceptualizes vulnerability as both universally shared human condition and individually experienced, thereby describes how vulnerability is both a bodily ontology (we are all vulnerable due to our human bodies being dependent on each other to support us), and an epistemic frame (through vulnerability we can know), resulting in an ethical response‐ability (to not hurt one another). Vulnerability, though universally shared, is individually experienced and unequally distributed, because it depends on what Judith Butler calls “social infrastructures”. Organizations and their organizing practices constitute such social infrastructures and at the same time depend on them. Using a vulnerability lens makes it possible to study how organizations co‐constitute vulnerability and the positionality that they inhabit toward vulnerability.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabella Scheibmayr, 2024. "Organizing vulnerability exploring Judith Butler's conceptualization of vulnerability to study organizations," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1385-1408, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:31:y:2024:i:4:p:1385-1408
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.13103
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.13103?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nickie Charles & Carol Wolkowitz, 2019. "Bringing dogs onto campus: Inclusions and exclusions of animal bodies in organizations," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 303-321, April.
    2. Carl Rhodes, 2017. "Ethical Praxis and the Business Case for LGBT Diversity: Political Insights from Judith Butler and Emmanuel Levinas," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 533-546, September.
    3. Kishinchand Poornima Wasdani, 2021. "Syndemic in a pandemic: An autoethnography of a COVID survivor," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 605-611, July.
    4. Nathalie Clavijo, 2020. "Reflecting upon vulnerable and dependent bodies during the COVID‐19 crisis," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 700-704, September.
    5. Jiri Chod & Nils Rudi & Jan A. Van Mieghem, 2010. "Operational Flexibility and Financial Hedging: Complements or Substitutes?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(6), pages 1030-1045, June.
    6. Lia Bryant & Bridget Garnham, 2014. "The Embodiment of Women in Wine: Gender Inequality and Gendered Inscriptions of the Working Body in a Corporate Wine Organization," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 411-426, September.
    7. Agnes Bolsø & Mary Phillips & Ida Sabelis, 2018. "Gendering environmental sustainability and organization: Introduction," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 215-221, May.
    8. Amal Abdellatif & Mark Gatto, 2020. "It’s OK not to be OK: Shared reflections from two PhD parents in a time of pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 723-733, September.
    9. Claire Weinhold & Gillian Abel & Lee Thompson, 2023. "“They wouldn't get away with it at McDonalds”: Decriminalization, work, and disciplinary power in New Zealand brothels," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 18-34, January.
    10. Amna Chaudhry & John Amis, 2022. "Negotiating masculinities in times of crisis: On the COVID frontline in Pakistan," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 650-665, March.
    11. Smriti Mallapaty, 2020. "Why does the coronavirus spread so easily between people?," Nature, Nature, vol. 579(7798), pages 183-183, March.
    12. Janet Sayers & Lindsay Hamilton & Kate Sang, 2019. "Organizing animals: Species, gender and power at work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 239-245, April.
    13. Line Henriksen & Katrine Meldgaard Kjær & Marie Blønd & Marisa Cohn & Baki Cakici & Rachel Douglas‐Jones & Pedro Ferreira & Viktoriya Feshak & Simy Kaur Gahoonia & Sunniva Sandbukt, 2022. "Writing bodies and bodies of text: Thinking vulnerability through monsters," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 561-574, March.
    14. Eimear McLoughlin, 2019. "Knowing cows: Transformative mobilizations of human and non‐human bodies in an emotionography of the slaughterhouse," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 322-342, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Grace H. Fan, 2024. "Can You Hear Nature Sing? Enacting the Syilx Ethical Practice of Nʕawqnwixʷ to Reconstruct the Relationships Between Humans and Nature," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(2), pages 249-268, November.
    2. Thereza Raquel Sales de Aguiar & Shamima Haque & Keith A. Bender, 2022. "Athena SWAN gender equality plans and the gendered impact of COVID‐19," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 591-608, March.
    3. Maria do Mar Pereira, 2021. "Researching gender inequalities in academic labor during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Avoiding common problems and asking different questions," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 498-509, July.
    4. Bertrand Valiorgue & Emilie Bourlier-Bargues & Kevin Metz, 2020. "Varieties and externalities of biosocial organizations in the Anthropocene, a boundary-work perspective," Post-Print hal-03041014, HAL.
    5. Linda Tallberg & José-Carlos García-Rosell & Minni Haanpää, 2022. "Human–Animal Relations in Business and Society: Advancing the Feminist Interpretation of Stakeholder Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 1-16, September.
    6. Zhang, Rongrong, 2024. "Strategic interactions and the sensitivity of cash savings to stock price," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    7. Jiao Wang & Lima Zhao & Arnd Huchzermeier, 2021. "Operations‐Finance Interface in Risk Management: Research Evolution and Opportunities," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(2), pages 355-389, February.
    8. Jian Ni & Lap Keung Chu & Shoude Li, 2018. "Financial hedging and competitive strategy for value-maximizing firms under quantity competition," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 264(1), pages 391-407, May.
    9. Jiri Chod, 2017. "Inventory, Risk Shifting, and Trade Credit," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(10), pages 3207-3225, October.
    10. Erika Cudworth, 2022. "Labors of love: Work, labor, and care in dog–human relations," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 830-844, May.
    11. Liao Wang & David D. Yao, 2017. "Production with Risk Hedging—Optimal Policy and Efficient Frontier," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(4), pages 1095-1113, August.
    12. Pérez-Samaniego, Víctor & Fuentes-Miguel, Jorge & Pereira-García, Sofía & López-Cañada, Elena & Devís-Devís, José, 2019. "Experiences of trans persons in physical activity and sport: A qualitative meta-synthesis," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 439-451.
    13. Ni, Jian & Chu, Lap-Keung & Yen, Benjamin P.C., 2016. "Coordinating operational policy with financial hedging for risk-averse firms," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 59(PB), pages 279-289.
    14. Nikolay Osadchiy & Vishal Gaur & Sridhar Seshadri, 2016. "Systematic Risk in Supply Chain Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1755-1777, June.
    15. Chloé Vitry, 2021. "Queering space and organizing with Sara Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 935-949, May.
    16. Anna Maria Górska & Karolina Kulicka & Zuzanna Staniszewska & Dorota Dobija, 2021. "Deepening inequalities: What did COVID‐19 reveal about the gendered nature of academic work?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1546-1561, July.
    17. Van den Broeke, Maud M. & Boute, Robert N. & Van Mieghem, Jan A., 2018. "Platform flexibility strategies: R&D investment versus production customization tradeoff," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(2), pages 475-486.
    18. Dide van Eck & Eline Jammaers, 2021. "Chronicles of conflicting care in confinement: Documenting the work experiences of seven ‘patient zeros’," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 735-748, March.
    19. Thais França & Filipa Godinho & Beatriz Padilla & Mara Vicente & Lígia Amâncio & Ana Fernandes, 2023. "“Having a family is the new normal”: Parenting in neoliberal academia during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 35-51, January.
    20. Lea Katharina Reiss & Andrew Kozhevnikov & Sara Louise Muhr, 2021. "Between vulnerability and resistance: How a woman copes with dramatic implications of COVID‐19 in Russia," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 574-586, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:31:y:2024:i:4:p:1385-1408. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.