Technology of optimization: An emerging configuration of productivity among professional software employees.
In this article, I draw from several months of fieldwork from 2019 to assess professional subjectivity in the software industry of Canada. I assess employees' constructions of and feelings about their own productivity. I argue that the ways in which subjects understand and feel about their productiv...
| Publicado en: | European Journal of Cultural Studies Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 132 - 148 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Sage Publications Inc.
Feb2022
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=155083251&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 155083251 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13675494 3EQ jtl: European Journal of Cultural Studies issn: 13675494 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Feb2022 vid: 25 iid: 1 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. artinfo: ui: 155083251 10.1177/13675494211030281 ppf: 132 ppct: 16 formats: tig: atl: Technology of optimization: An emerging configuration of productivity among professional software employees. aug: au: Ciccone, Vanessa affil: London School of Economics and Political Science, UK su: Professional employees Structural optimization Computer software industry Self Subjectivity Canada sug: subj: Canada Professional employees Structural optimization Computer software industry Self Subjectivity keyword: Optimization productivity culture professional subjectivity public and private entanglement technology of self ab: In this article, I draw from several months of fieldwork from 2019 to assess professional subjectivity in the software industry of Canada. I assess employees' constructions of and feelings about their own productivity. I argue that the ways in which subjects understand and feel about their productivity says a great deal about how power is 'willfully' negotiated within everyday professional tech settings of neoliberal societies. My findings suggest that optimization is emerging as a technology of self among the individuals I studied, and bringing political consequences. In the first section of the article, I provide a brief overview of the productivity imperative's cultural trajectory, and show its relation to optimization. Then, in the empirical analysis and discussion, I outline that the technology of optimization involves a discourse around bringing one's best to public and private realms, offering a specific set of moral ideals. I then show that another facet of this technology of self is centered on willfully entangling public and private life. Finally, I theorize subjects' reported feelings about their own productivity, assessing how the technology of optimization relates to a politics of privilege. With this study, I seek to make a contribution to the relation between the culture of productivity and professional subjectivity in the software industry, in an effort to expose how power is negotiated at the level of the self in an increasingly influential sector. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2022 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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