Reviews of "Best of Times? The Social Impact of the Celtic Tiger"

Review Symposium of "Best of Times? The Social Impact of the Celtic Tiger" Edited by Tony Fahey, Helen Russell, Christopher T. Whelan, Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, 2007, re-released in 2008 as Quality of Life in Ireland: Social Impact of Economic Boom, Springer.

Dance-work: Images of organization in Irish dance

The Irish economic boom, commonly known as the Celtic Tiger, provides an interesting and unique opportunity to explore the relationship between the profound shifts in the organization of working life and in the production and consumption of culture. In this paper, we confine our inquiry into the relationship with one aspect of popular culture, namely dance, focusing on the phenomenon of Riverdance which emerged contemporaneously with the Celtic Tiger. We argue that both are deeply immersed in larger organizing discourses, historical narratives about national identity and civilizing attempts to control the body. We identify three distinct 'moments' in the development of Irish dance, which we label as pre-national, 'Traditional' Ireland; national, 'Modern', Parochial Ireland and global, 'Post-modern' Ireland. This provides a narrative through which we explore the transformation of working relations in Ireland during the 19th and 20th centuries

Learning to live with the lack: pedagogy of the beguiled

An important aspect of globalisation/Americanisation is, prima facia, the global export of televisual products such as Sesame Street, Barney, etc. that are explicitly concerned with cultivating elementary forms of organisational life. Thus, it is surprising that organization studies has been virtually silent on childhood and pedagogy. This lacuna needs filling especially because the development of a post-national, cosmopolitan society problematises existing pedagogical models. In this paper we argue that cosmopolitanism requires a pedagogy that is centred on the Lack and the mythic figure of the Trickster. We explore this through an analysis of children’s stories, including Benjamin’s radio broadcasts for children, Sesame Street and Dr Seuss

The New Age Movement in the Post-Celtic Tiger Context: Secularisation, Enchantment and Crisis

This paper will examine the New Age Movement in Ireland in the context of theoretical debates and empirical trends relevant to the themes of secularisation, commodification and crisis. This paper will reflect on the “secularisation thesis”, the Census 2011 data on religion, and the rise of the New Age Movement in the context of the social changes in Ireland which occurred during the “Celtic Tiger” period, as well as changes which have resulted from the economic crisis.Cet article examine le Mouvement New Age en Irlande dans le contexte des débats théoriques et des tendances empiriques pertinentes en ce qui concerne les thèmes de la sécularisation, de la logique de marchandisation et de la crise. Il commente la « thèse de la sécularisation », les données relatives à la religion dans recensement de 2011 et la montée du Mouvement New Age dans le contexte des changements sociaux en Irlande à l’époque du « Tigre celtique », ainsi que les changements qui ont résulté de la crise économique

Reading Star Trek: Imagining, Theorizing, and Reflecting on Organizational Discourse and Practice

This paper considers the parallels and intersections between Star Trek and contemporary management discourse. We show that the central issues of complex organisations and management are represented in fictional scenarios in Star Trek and that these find their 'real world' correspondences in the management literature. Tracing this theme over the thirty-year lifespan of the product, we outline both the central axial problems of organisations as well as contextual transformations, and, by focusing on particular episodes, we identify and analyse germane micro-sociological and micro-organisational processes. Thus, we consider Star Trek an 'expressive good' - that is, a material product of the culture industry that gives expression to the prevailing cultural processes through which its production and circulation takes place. Moreover, Star Trek, as an exemplary science fiction utopia/dystopia, facilitates a critical imaginary enabling us to envision a variety of organisational alternatives through which we can assess and reflect on our own management practices and organisational contexts.Publisher when granting permission required that page numbers be noted - MEL 08/09/201

(Children's) Play and Organization

Ephemera conference, on Work, Play and Boredom, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK, 5-7 May, 2010Author has checked copyrigh