Life imitates art: Yojimbo, critical management, and contractors

Abstract

Organization studies have consistently drawn from literature and film as tools to understand, explain, and analyze organizational phenomena. With that goal in mind, this article illustrates how Yojimbo, a movie by Akira Kurosawa, provides a critical representation of work and organizations as a context for how micro emancipation might be undertaken in contemporary organizational settings. The argument revolves around the claim that contractors might become the newest frontier in the study of both micro emancipation and organizational misconduct. Reinforcing this claim, the article draws heavily from the film Yojimbo and later supplements the argument with a case study focusing on Edward Snowden. This article sets the tone for an emergent area of discussion about contemporary micro emancipation across sectors.