Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Immaterial labor, rhizomatic control and subjectivity in the new technological paradigm

This article relates immaterial labor and subjectivity based on the current forms of control in a Portuguese banking institution. It is based on a case study, with data collected by means of individual interviews with bank employees and sector representatives, and on documentary sources provided by the company and by representative institutions of the banking sector in Portugal. Two management models implemented by the bank were analysed and related to the concepts of immaterial labor and to mechanisms of the new technological paradigm that is built around information technology. The models examined drive the rhizomatic control modes that produce the individual and collective existence of the workers by means of a continual "molding of oneself". Rhizomatic control is installed using subtlety, seduction, sophistication and justification, since the management of immaterial labor grants a margin of freedom to workers through self-management, understood as self-control. Rhizomatic control gives rise to a standardised and agreed subjectivity.

Immaterial labor; control; rhizome; subjectivity; new technological paradigm


Fundação Getulio Vargas/Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo Av. 9 de Julho, 2029 - Bela Vista, 01313-902 - São Paulo - SP - Brasil, Tel.: +55 11 3799-7999, Fax: +55 11 3262-3975 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: rae@fgv.br