Dynamics of work as a mechanism of subject(ificat)ion under contemporary capitalism: a case of workers in banking sector in Türkiye

Date

2024-2

Author

Güray, Melahat

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This study analyses subject(ificat)ion aspects of work (through paid job) within a multi-layered approach under contemporary capitalism, exploring how work penetrates in life with a focus on both subjection and formation of subject. Workers in banking has been studied as a case within the context of this study in Türkiye, considering importance of sector for financial capitalism, representing marketing and digital facet of contemporary capitalism as well as young, educated and female workers. After presenting the theoretical discussions on Labour Process Theories and Autonomist Marxism on work, capitalism and subject(ificat)ion, this study presents a multi-layered analysis, including gender and age aspects, to understand subject(ificat)ion aspects of work which is based on “attachment to work” including dependence, identity and self-realization, “workplace dynamics” including control, skills, and digitalization, “work-daily life interaction” including health, leisure time, relations, and “self-perception” of workers. This study, as a data-driven one, is based on field research with people who have experience working in banking sector in Ankara and İstanbul, while acknowledging the embeddedness of their experiences in the labour and welfare regimes of Türkiye. This study offers how the various dynamics of work, including workers' strategies, actions and affections, function as a dual-functional mechanism of subject(ificat)ion under contemporary capitalism through various findings. Accordingly, work functions as a mechanism of subject(ificat)ion within the intersection of precariousness, on the one hand, through uncertainties and insecurities, and, on the other hand, as a domain of performance and investment, through competition and self-development, where one becomes an entrepreneur of oneself.

Subject Keywords

Work in banking, Subject(ificat)ion, Control, Precariousness, Entrepreneur of oneself

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/108753

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis