Democratic Work at an Organization-Society Boundary

Abstract

Studies of constitution, particularly the Communication as Constitutive of Organization (CCO) perspective, currently lacks adequate consideration of how power manifests in ongoing, dynamic, material–symbolic co-constitution. This article aims to locate and understand power in the sociomaterial realities of work. I position democratic work practices as transcendent of symbolic-material dualisms and investigate those practices via a co-constitutive, integrated approach. This critical-interpretive analysis of boundary work illuminates the non-neutral constitutive properties of sociomateriality in action. Findings coalesce around three themes: (a) material objects and notions of success, (b) sites of participation, and (c) bodies and engaged citizenry. The materialities of homelessness, along with those of “non-homelessness,” co-constitute conditions that actively work to maintain homelessness’ existence and restrict the democratic possibilities of work. To understand the complex connections of materiality and symbols in constitutive entanglements, I propose communicative instantiation as a conceptual-practical site for investigations of constitution.