Arugula leaf and failure of the imaginary in identity research final revision.pdf (203.64 kB)
Encountering the Arugula Leaf: The Failure of the Imaginary and its Implications for Research on Identity in Organizations
journal contribution
posted on 2013-09-20, 13:24 authored by Michaela DriverThe article reviews research on identity in organizations. It suggests that current research reiterates imaginary constructions of identity by which identity can be defined as coherent or fragmented. Based on a psychoanalytic understanding of subjectivity, it explores how articulating identity as lack may unsettle such imaginary constructions. The article develops the significant implications this has for how identity is conceptualized and researched and, importantly, how the failure of imaginary identity constructions relates to resistance and control in organizations. The article provides new directions for the study of identity in organizations particularly with respect to widening the discursive spaces in which creative identity struggles occur.
History
Citation
Organization, 2009, 16 (4), pp. 487-504Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE/School of ManagementVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)