Re-Reading C. Wright Mills

Abstract

Inspired by the argument that discussions of the history of management studies commonly suffer from a lack of adequate historical contextualization, this paper offers a re-reading of the work of the well known critic C. Wright Mills. Focusing on Mills’s study of American labour in the 1940’s, we seek to return his work to the conditions in which it took shape: its social, political and philosophical context. We suggest a new way of reading Mills, the manner in which he exemplifies a certain way of leading a critical scholarly life. Mills’s debt to a Socratic tradition of critique is highlighted. We focus on the tentative and provisional elements in his project as he constitutes himself as both political theorist and actor. Without suggesting we aspire to copy Mills and highlighting important tensions, we reconsider the significance of Mills for critical management studies today.