Resistance Redux

TLDR

Over the past 15 years, interest in resistance within and around organizations has resurged. The essay proposes a conceptual framework to thematize the burgeoning resistance literature. The authors critically review resistance scholarship, examining its manifestations, political intent, and impact, and outline four fields—individual infrapolitics, collective infrapolitics, insubordination, and insurrection—forming the “four I’s” of resistance. The paper concludes by linking resistance theory to practice and posing four provocative questions to stimulate future research and practice.

Abstract

The last 15 years have witnessed renewed interest in resistance in and around organizations. In this essay, we offer a conceptual framework to thematize this burgeoning conceptual and empirical terrain. We critically explore scholarship that examines resistance in terms of its manifestations and political intent or impact. We offer four fields of possibility for resistance scholarship: individual infrapolitics, collective infrapolitics, insubordination, and insurrection (the “four I’s” of resistance). We conclude by considering the relationship between resistance theory and praxis, and pose four questions, or provocations, for stimulating future resistance research and practice.