Sennett (1995, p. 95) suggests the controlling force of shame is subtle and even elusive:
“It is not so much abrupt moments of humiliation as month after month of disregarding his employees, of not taking them seriously, which establishes his domination. The feelings he has about them, they about him, need never be stated. The grinding down of his employees’ sense of self-worth is not part of his discourse with them; it is a silent erosion of their sense of self-worth which will wear them down. This, rather than open abuse, is how he bends them to his will. When shame is silent, implicit, it becomes a potent tool of bringing people to heel.”
While Sennett’s analysis may be overdrawn and perhaps a bit too melodramatic, it accurately portrays a new mode of subtle control operating in many contemporary organizations. This mode of authority represents a further example of the “managed heart”[i] and continuing internalization of control. It suggests a grinding down of self-worth among those people being “managed.”
We see this same process operating dramatically in Ken Kesey’s (1963) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest—a novel, play, and movie about the operations of a contemporary mental institution. The powerful psychological internalization of control is engaged, in particular, by Nurse Ratchet, a nurse working on one of the hospital wards. She fully engages indifferent authority and shame when inducing conformity upon the patients on her ward. This alienating process is particularly portrayed in her indifferent administration of medications, cold compliance with regulations regarding behavior on the ward, and routine attendance at ward “therapy” sessions. It is only in the rebellion of Randle Patrick McMurphy, that any defiance of this authority and the resultant internalized control is evident. Furthermore, only in the novel and play do we find reflections on this internalizing process (by Chief Bromden, a Native American patient in this hospital).
Internalized Control
In many ways, an observational culture is the most pernicious of the factors nurturing capitalism. It is pernicious because this culture produces the embedding of external control in the head and heart of those laboring and living in a capitalistic society. Taken together with the other factors we have identified, the observational culture leads to centralization of control, a reduced sense of collective responsibility, and a set of priorities that are often dehumanizing (or at least not oriented to collective human welfare).
Furthermore, it is not just a matter of controlling how often and in what manner people get observed. It is also a matter of controlling what people are NOT allowed to observe. They can’t see the ultimate source of control (those in the tower), nor are they allowed to view any information that does not conform to the existing prevalent narrative of the organization or society. How might we apply this analysis to the work and life led by the women Dr. Sun and I studied? Furthermore, what are the implications regarding work and Worth for those employed in 21st-century organizations?
