Masculinity and the British Organization Man Since 1945

by Roper, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780198256939
• ISBN10: 0198256930
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-03-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The post-war period is often regarded as a time when Britain underwent its managerial revolution, the family firm and the "gentleman amateur" giving way to the large bureaucracy and the trained management expert. Yet the conception of modern management as an objective process could hardly befurther from the truth. Drawing on detailed life-history interviews with the post-war generation of "organization men", this study explores the intimacies that operate among men in management. It argues that despite the rise of professional management, relations between managers continue to functionin highly subjective ways. The pleasure of technical innovation or of seeing a new product through to the market, the mixture of rivalry and patronage that surrounds management succession, the hard bargaining of industrial relations: at every level, managerial functions involve the dramatization ofemotions among men. By challenging the enduring myth of the rational organization man, this book sheds new light on gender segregation in management. It argues that the exclusion of women from senior positions cannot be understood simply as the outcome of unprofessional practices. A focus on the emotional relationsbetween male managers reveals the psychic dimensions of exclusionary behaviour. An "emotional economy" flourishes among men in management, but its workings have been hidden by the myth of the rational organization man.

Author Biography

Michael Roper is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction

Masculinity and the Rise of the Organization Man

The Psychic Realm of Business

The Eclipse of Family Capitalism

Among Men

'Family Romances': Management Succession and the Older Man

The Cult of Toughness

'Yesterday's Model': Product Fetishism and the Cult of the Producer

Women and Men

Images of Wives and Secretaries

Images of the 'Lady Manager'

Conclusion: The Fall of the Organization Man?

Appendices

The Social Backgrounds of Organization Men

Biographical Details

Bibliography

Index

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