Monstrous organization theory

What is it about?

This call for a monstrous organization theory challenges the stigmatization of monstrous embodiment, engages with bodies that disrupt organizational boundaries, and encourages organizational researchers to critically reflect about our own monstrosity. The paper traces the ambivalent notion of the monstrous through western history - from Medieval and Renaissance theology and medicine, via Classical life science, freak shows and contemporary performance art, to recent social science and organization theory - and it invokes Deleuze and Guattari’s work on creative involution to articulate a positively transgressive notion of the monstrous.

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Why is it important?

Rearticulating the notion of the monstrous as a positive term may serve as an important political tool in resisting the oppression, exploitation and exclusion experienced by people who are labelled monstrous in contemporary society.