This paper aims to analyze sketches done by newspaper press operatives. The sketches analyzed in this article have been gathered during an in-depth ethnographic study carried out by one of this paper's author in one of the largest newspaper printing sites in Europe. The ethnographic study lasted for about 9 months. In this paper, we focus our discussion in 53 drawings done by press workers. The newspaper factory was undergoing a major technology change where four of its main newspaper presses were being replaced by state of arte machines. As a result, workers were made redundant at the same time that the remained workers were divided into 2 groups: those who were transferred to work in the brand new machines and those who were left to work in the old equipment. We will argue that the sketches content make explicit the symbolic violence pervasiveness in that organizational context which is associated with sexuality, oppression and self-destruction. Such manifestations are also related to the changes that took place in the organization studied. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the paper seeks to make a theoretical contribution by highlighting that violence expressions are related to (management) male dominance that can threaten the shop-floor worker's sense of masculinity. Furthermore, the paper will also highlight the possibility of deploying projective methods in organizational research in order to have a deeper understanding of organizational realities.
violence; masculinity; working relations; power; drawings
