The Cultural Fantasy of Hierarchy: Sovereignty and The Desire For Spiritual Purity

Rhodes, CH; Bloom, P

The Cultural Fantasy of Hierarchy: Sovereignty and The Desire For Spiritual Purity

Rhodes, CH

Bloom, P

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Publisher:: Emerald
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2012, 35 pp. 141 - 141 (169)
Issue Date:: 2012

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Rhodes, CH https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6571-2872	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Bloom, P	en_US
dc.date.issued	2012	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2012, 35 pp. 141 - 141 (169)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0733-558X	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/85360
dc.description.abstract	Bureaucratic hierarchy, as the hallmark of the modern organization, has been remarkably resilient in the face of increasingly pervasive attacks on its fundamental value and usefulness. We investigate the reasons for this from a cultural, particularly psychoanalytic, perspective – one that sees hierarchy's perpetuation not in terms of the efficacy of its instrumental potential, but rather in the values that are culturally sedimented within it. We argue that hierarchy reflects longings for a pure heavenly order that can never be attained yet remains appealing as a cultural fantasy psychologically gripping individuals in its beatific vision. To tease out this cultural logic we examine two representations of it in popular culture – the U.S. television comedy The Office (2005–) and comedian Will Farrell's impersonation of George W. Bush (2009). These examples illustrate the strength of bureaucratic hierarchy as an affective cultural ideal that retains its appeal even whilst being continually the subject of derision. We suggest that this cultural ideal is structured through a ‘fantasmatic narrative’ revolving around the desire for a spiritualized sense of sovereignty; a desire that is always undermined yet reinforced by its failures to manifest itself concretely in practice. Our central contribution is in relating hierarchy to sovereignty, suggesting that hierarchy persists because of an unquenched and unquenchable desire for spiritual perfection not only amongst leaders, but also amongst those they lead.	en_US
dc.publisher	Emerald	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Research in the Sociology of Organizations	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1108/S0733-558X(2012)0000035008	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management	en_US
dc.title	The Cultural Fantasy of Hierarchy: Sovereignty and The Desire For Spiritual Purity	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	35	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	false	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	35	en_US

Abstract:

Bureaucratic hierarchy, as the hallmark of the modern organization, has been remarkably resilient in the face of increasingly pervasive attacks on its fundamental value and usefulness. We investigate the reasons for this from a cultural, particularly psychoanalytic, perspective – one that sees hierarchy's perpetuation not in terms of the efficacy of its instrumental potential, but rather in the values that are culturally sedimented within it. We argue that hierarchy reflects longings for a pure heavenly order that can never be attained yet remains appealing as a cultural fantasy psychologically gripping individuals in its beatific vision. To tease out this cultural logic we examine two representations of it in popular culture – the U.S. television comedy The Office (2005–) and comedian Will Farrell's impersonation of George W. Bush (2009). These examples illustrate the strength of bureaucratic hierarchy as an affective cultural ideal that retains its appeal even whilst being continually the subject of derision. We suggest that this cultural ideal is structured through a ‘fantasmatic narrative’ revolving around the desire for a spiritualized sense of sovereignty; a desire that is always undermined yet reinforced by its failures to manifest itself concretely in practice. Our central contribution is in relating hierarchy to sovereignty, suggesting that hierarchy persists because of an unquenched and unquenchable desire for spiritual perfection not only amongst leaders, but also amongst those they lead.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/85360