Rethinking Emancipation in Organization Studies. In the light of Jacques Rancière's Philosophy

The demand for emancipation was once something we only associated with oppressed social groups such as Women, Workers or the colonized who were seeking to escape from various forms of domination which they had long been subjected to. Today, some of the most privileged groups in our society such as middle managers and professions talk about their thirst for emancipation. They seek this precious and awe inspiring goal through participating in management courses (Gosling, 2000), reading various forms of management literature which promises to turn them into revolutionaries (Jacques, 1996), and engaging with various journeys to free themselves from the shackles of thought control and simply 'be themselves' at work (Fleming, 2009). Corporations routinely sell themselves as a route to emancipation for their consumers and employees. One only needs to think about the recent advertisement for Virgin which replaced the famous images of the revolutionary Ché Guevara with Richard Branson. The message seems to be clear - it is not just radical political movements that can provide emancipation, corporations can too! The fact that emancipation has lost its anchor in radical political movements and shocks and scandalizes some. For others, it is a kind of an indication of how endlessly flexible and omnivorous capitalism is insofar as it is able to adopt nearly anything - include forms of virulent anti-capitalism - to further itself. While these two explanations are certainly appealing, we think that the widespread adoption of this culture of emancipation actually underlines the increasing uncertainty and fragmentation that has taken place around the term. For us this is due to a shift in focus of understanding of emancipation. Previously, emancipation was understood as a form of wide-scale transformational change in society achieved through intellectuals enlightening people who find themselves dominated. This notion informed studies of emancipation for many years. The result was that research on emancipation tended to focus on either documenting large scale challenges to capitalism and management or agitating for emancipation through a progressive enlightenment of the audience. This approach to emancipation began to fall out of favour as it was accused of being too grandiose - subjects were positioned as victims of managerial knowledge which they could only escape from through the progressive enlightenment under the tutelage of critical intellectuals. Such disenchantment led researchers to turn their focus towards more minor forms of micro-emancipation whereby people momentarily escape from domination in their everyday life through minor activities (eg. Alvesson and Willmott, 1992). This focus produced a deep body of literature that documented the various ways individuals seek out micro-emancipation in the workplace (eg. Zanoni and Jensens, 2007). However, recently we have witnessed some important questions being asked around this research agenda. In particular, some are concerned that it has begun to fundamentally constrain how we think about forms of emancipation, creating a myopic focus on small-scale struggles and fundamentally ignoring many of the broader social struggles that challenge management. In this paper we seek to overcome these problems associated with macro as well as micro-emancipation by positing a new conception of emancipation offered in the recent thought of Jacques Rancière. For Rancière, emancipation should not be seen as an ideal to be reached, but as a postulate to be acualised in day-to-day practice. He points out that equality can be actualized by interrupting the order of sensibility (rather than through quotidian everyday acts), through creating a sense of dissensus (rather than collaboration and attempts to create consensus), and attempts to singularize the universal (rather than through fragmentary struggles). By focusing on these three processes, Rancière enables us to see a range of emancipatory struggles that we were blinded to by both accounts of marco-emancipation (which went looking for grand revolts) as well as micro-emancipation (which focused on everyday transgression). In particular it enables us to register the kinds of emancipation movements that have frequently been left out of accounts of emancipation in organization studies. These include the self-education movements, proliterian intellectual movements, as well as forms art. Rancière's account of emancipation allows us to extend how we think about processes of emancipation in and around organizations in three ways. First, it allows us to register activities in our theoretical gaze that we had previously ignored or discounted. Macro-emancipation focuses our attention on collective movements which are organised and micro-emancipation focuses our attention on often individual every-day activities which are not organised. In contrast, Rancière draws our attention to various emancipatory movements that are often collective, but are not formally organised. This broadens the range of forms of emancipation we can study. Second, Rancière allows us to rethink how exactly emancipation works. Instead of focusing on creation of new states of freedom (as studies of macro emancipation do) or attempts to seize fleeting forms of freedom (as studies of micro emanciption do), Rancière's work allows us to see how emancipation involves the transformation of the sensible. This re-orients our studies to how emancipation movements seek to change what and how we actually see the world. Finally, Rancière allows us to move beyond the assumption that contemporary resistance is fragmented and disorganised by registering how individual forms of resistance are experienced as an embodiment or singularization of universal struggles. Doing this allows us to recognise the link between the specific demands of many resistance movements and more universal claims such as dignity, recognition, and justice. By making these three contributions, we hope to move beyond either an elitist account found in studies of macro-emancipation and the banal account found in studies of micro-emancaiption. In order to make this argument, we proceed as follows. We begin by reviewing the two dominant conceptions of emancipation. First we look at three different modes of emancipation that have been successively pursued - political emancipation, economic emancipation and ideological emancipation. We then look at the ways in which organization studies has suggested these struggles take place - through 'macro-emancipation' or 'micro-emancipation'. In this review we highlight the shortcomings of these two existing conceptions of emancipation. We then introduce a third conception of emancipation inspired by the work of Jacques Rancière. After we have outlined this, we then draw out the implications of this for the study of emancipation in organization studies. We conclude by sketching out what new areas of emancipation this allows us to understand and perhaps engage with.Rancière ; emancipation ; critical theory ; critical management studies ; micro emancipation

Computer-aided engineering of enzymes for in vitro and in vivo production of novel precursors

Development of enzyme-based synthetic processes is often hampered by the lack of natural enzymes with requisite properties or specificities. With the potential offered nowadays by computer-aided molecular design and enzyme engineering techniques, we have seen in recent years numerous examples of successful enzyme designs that enabled tremendous improvements of catalytic properties for various applications, including catalysis of novel synthetic reactions. Nonetheless, progress in this field, in particular with computational techniques, is still required in order to fasten enzyme design and accelerate the generation of efficient biocatalysts. This lecture will report and discuss recent developments and specific research projects of our laboratory. Special emphasis will be placed on the contribution of computational methods in our strategies. Several areas will be covered: (i) development of computational methods for multi-scale molecular modelling and design inspired from artificial intelligence field [1-2]; (ii) computer-aided engineering of carbohydrate-active enzymes to conceive catalysts acting on non-natural substrates, chemically protected to integrate programmed chemo-enzymatic cascades, and ultimately produce antigenic oligosaccharide precursors [3-5]; (iii) structure -based engineering of enzymes to conceive an artificial metabolic pathway dedicated to in vivo production of non-natural methionine precursor 2,4-Dihydroxybutyric acid (DHB) [6]. This work was partially funded by the French National Research Agency (PROTICAD, ANR-12-MONU-0015-03; GLUCODESIGN ANR-08-PCVI-0002-02; SYNTHACS ANR-10-BTBR-05-01). [1] Traoré S., Roberts K.E., Allouche D., Donald B.R., André I., Schiex T., Barbe S. 2016. Fast search algorithms for Computational Protein Design. J. Comp. Chem. 37(12):1048-58 [2] Traoré S., Allouche D., André I., de Givry S., Katsirelos G., Schiex T. and Barbe S. 2013. A New Framework for Computational Protein Design through Cost Function Network Optimization Bioinformatics, 29(17), 2129-2136 [3] Verges A., Cambon E., Barbe S., Salamone S., Le Guen Y., Moulis C., Mulard L.A., Remaud-Siméon M., André I. 2015. Computer-aided engineering of a transglucosylase for the glucosylation of an unnatural disaccharide of relevance for bacterial antigen synthesis.ACS Catalysis. 5(2), 1186-1198 [4] Salamone S., Guerreiro C., Cambon E., André I., Remaud-Siméon M., Mulard L.A. 2015. Programmed chemo-enzymatic synthesis of the oligosaccharide component of a carbohydrate-based antibacterial vaccine candidate. Chem. Comm. 51, 2581-2584. [5] Champion E., Guérin F., Moulis C., Barbe S., Tran T.-H., Morel S., Descroix K., Monsan P., Mourey L., Mulard L.A., Tranier S., Remaud-Siméon M., André I. 2012. Applying pairwise combinations of amino acid mutations for sorting out highly efficient glucosylation tools for chemo-enzymatic synthesis of bacterial oligosaccharides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 (45), 18677–18688 [6] Walther T., Topham C., Irague R., Auriol C., Baylac A., Cordier H., Dressaire C., Lozano-Huguet L., Martineau N., Stodel M., Malbert Y., Maestracci M., Huet R., André I., Remaud-Siméon M., François J.-M. 2017. Construction of a synthetic methabolic pathway for biosynthesis of the non-natural methionine precursor 2,4-dihydroxybutyric acid. Submitte

What makes Personal Income Taxes progressive? The case of Belgium

In this paper we investigate the progressivity impact of various components of the Belgian personal income tax system, before and after a major reform of this system. The reform reduced the top tax rates, broadened the tax base and increased tax credits. We show that, contrary to the opinion, commonly expressed in public debates, the reform did not reduce the liability progression of the system and that the rate structure is relatively unimportant in explaining progressivity.

Comparison of two plant functional approaches to evaluate natural restoration along an old-field-deciduous forest chronosequence

Question: Are direct and indirect trait-based approaches similar in their usefulness to synthesize species responses to successional stages?\ud Location: Northern hardwood forests, Que´bec, Canada\ud (451010–451080N; 731580–741210W).\ud Methods: Two different trait-based approaches were used to relate plant functional traits to succession on an old-field – deciduous forest chronosequence: (i) a frequently used approach based on co-occurrence of traits (emergent groups), and (ii) a new version of a direct functional approach at the trait level (the fourth-corner method). Additionally, we selected two different cut-off levels for the herb subset of the emergent group classification in order to test its robustness and ecological relevance.\ud Results: Clear patterns of trait associations with stand developmental stages emerged from both the emergent group and the direct approach at the trait level. However, the emergent group classification was found to hide some trait-level differences such as a shift in seed size, light requirement and plant form along the chronosequence. Contrasting results were obtained for the seven or nine group classification of the herbaceous subset, illustrating how critical is the number of groups for emergent group classification.\ud Conclusion: The simultaneous use of two different traitbased\ud approaches provided a robust and comprehensive characterization of vegetation responses in the old-field -deciduous forest chronosequence. It also underlines the different goals as well as the limitations and benefits of these two approaches. Both approaches indicated that abandoned pastures of the northern hardwood biome have good potential for natural recovery. Conversion of these lands to other functions may lead to irremediable loss of biodiversity

La recherche de sens à la suite d’un événement traumatique

Le fait de donner un sens à une expérience traumatique est reconnu comme une étape importante dans le processus d’adaptation des victimes d’événements traumatiques. L’objectif de cet article est d’examiner les différentes facettes de la recherche de sens en intégrant les écrits reliés à plusieurs concepts apparentés à ce phénomène, tels les changements positifs et négatifs perçus et la croissance post-traumatique. La première partie présente trois théories explicatives de la recherche de sens. La seconde partie expose l’état des connaissances empiriques lié à divers types d’événements traumatiques. Finalement, la troisième partie souligne les problèmes méthodologiques inhérents à ce domaine de recherche et propose des pistes de recherches futures.Search for meaning in the aftermath of a traumatic event has been recognized as an important task in the recovery process of victims. Several terms have been used to describe the process and outcome related to search for meaning, such as perceived positive and negative changes, perceived benefits and post-traumatic growth. This article has three objectives. First, it aims to present three conceptual models of search for meaning and related concepts. Second, it reviews empirical data on search for meaning amongst different types of traumatic events. Third, it exposes shortcomings and paths for future studies.El hecho de encontrarle sentido a una experiencia traumática se reconoce como una etapa importante en el proceso de adaptación de las víctimas de eventos traumáticos. El objetivo de este artículo es examinar las diferentes facetas de la búsqueda de sentido integrando los textos relacionados con diversos conceptos emparentados con este fenómeno, tales como los cambios positivos y negativos percibidos y el crecimiento postraumático. La primera parte presenta tres teorías que explican la búsqueda de sentido. La segunda parte expone el estado del conocimiento empírico relacionado con los diversos tipos de eventos traumáticos. Finalmente, la tercera parte subraya los problemas metodológicos inherentes a este campo de investigación y propone pistas para las investigaciones futuras.O fato de dar um sentido a uma experiência traumática é reconhecido como uma etapa importante no processo de adaptação das vítimas de acontecimentos traumáticos. O objetivo deste artigo é examinar as diferentes facetas da busca de sentido integrando a literatura ligada a vários conceitos semelhantes a este fenômeno, como as mudanças positivas e negativas vivenciadas e o crescimento pós-traumático. A primeira parte apresenta três teorias explicativas da busca de sentido. A segunda expõe o estado dos conhecimentos empíricos ligados a diversos tipos de acontecimentos traumáticos. Finalmente, a terceira parte ressalta os problemas metodológicos inerentes a esta área de pesquisa e propõe pistas de pesquisas futuras

Data on face-to-face contacts in an office building suggests a low-cost vaccination strategy based on community linkers

Empirical data on contacts between individuals in social contexts play an important role in providing information for models describing human behavior and how epidemics spread in populations. Here, we analyze data on face-to-face contacts collected in an office building. The statistical properties of contacts are similar to other social situations, but important differences are observed in the contact network structure. In particular, the contact network is strongly shaped by the organization of the offices in departments, which has consequences in the design of accurate agent-based models of epidemic spread. We consider the contact network as a potential substrate for infectious disease spread and show that its sparsity tends to prevent outbreaks of rapidly spreading epidemics. Moreover, we define three typical behaviors according to the fraction $f$ of links each individual shares outside its own department: residents, wanderers and linkers. Linkers ($f\sim 50\%$) act as bridges in the network and have large betweenness centralities. Thus, a vaccination strategy targeting linkers efficiently prevents large outbreaks. As such a behavior may be spotted a priori in the offices' organization or from surveys, without the full knowledge of the time-resolved contact network, this result may help the design of efficient, low-cost vaccination or social-distancing strategies

Behavioural inventory of the giraffe (<i>Giraffa camelopardalis</i>)

Background Numerous factors like continuous habitat reduction or fragmentation for free-ranging giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) as well as e.g. suboptimal housing conditions for animals in captivity might lead to behavioural alterations as part of the overall adaptation process to the changing living conditions. In order to facilitate current and future studies on giraffe behaviour, a comprehensive ethogram was compiled based on existing literature, as well as observations on giraffes in the wild (Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe; Entabeni Game Reserve, South Africa), and in captivity (National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, Pretoria). Findings The resulting ethogram lists 65 different behavioural patterns, which were described and grouped into seven categories: General activities, Abnormal repetitive behaviours, General interactions, Bull-Cow behaviour, Bull-Bull behaviour, Cow-Bull behaviour, Maternal behaviours, and Interactions by calves. The behaviours were further described regarding a presumed purpose, particularly with respect to social interactions and sexual behaviour. Contradictory descriptions from previous studies were considered and discussed in comparison with our own observations. Conclusions This ethogram provides a basis for current and future studies by suggesting a terminology which can be used for harmonizing behavioural observations, thus helping to facilitate comparability of future results. Subsequently, a better understanding of the behavioural ecology of giraffes in the wild as well as in captivity could aid future conservation efforts