Pomahač, Matěj. 2011. Headhunting: etnografie utváření osoby jako zboží. Nepublikovaná diplomová práce. Praha: FHS UK. Key Words ethnography; human resources consulting; headhunting; economic anthropology; economization; commodification; structural holes Summary This thesis is based on more than a year-long research which took place in a private human resources consulting company focused on the search for highly skilled workers (known as headhunting). The research focus was based primarily on the fact, that the author worked in the reference field as human resources consultant. This perspective enabled to focus on description and perception of everyday activities ongoing in the company in relation to its clients and candidates, from the headhunter's point of view. The data collected during the course of participant observation have been analysing with the use of Michel Callon's studies of economization and commodification in major part, and through the Ronald S. Burt's theory of structural holes in minor part. The analysis reveals the economic and political factors determining the field of headhunting practices and procedures, which headhunters use in order to face up their position of intermediary party between clients and candidates. The study also focuses on processes and technologies, by means of the...

À la frontière de l’anthropologie économique et de la sociologie urbaine, cette thèse de doctorat étudie le mode de fonctionnement et l’impact de la filière transnationale d’exportation de véhicules d’occasion sur l’un de ses principaux axes :la route commerciale reliant Bruxelles à Cotonou.<p>La première partie de la thèse propose une description minutieuse des différentes étapes suivies par les véhicules le long de la filière commerciale ainsi qu’une typologie des acteurs de l’activité. Cette description est notamment l’occasion d’une discussion critique des couples d’analyse formel/informel, légal/illégal habituellement mobilisés pour décrire ce type d’activité commerciale.<p>La seconde partie de la thèse est centrée sur la dimension spatiale de l’activité. L’approche est construite autour du concept de place marchande entendu comme un outil économique essentiel dans la « production » de la marchandise véhicule d’occasion. Pour que les nombreuses voitures rendues disponibles en Europe puissent être transformées en biens consommables, et mises en relation avec la demande africaine, il est nécessaire qu’elles soient rassemblées en un marché. C’est cette fonction que la place marchande parvient à remplir en combinant les impératifs d’éclatement et de concentration.<p>La troisième et dernière partie de la thèse est consacrée aux acteurs de l’activité. En particulier aux importateurs de véhicules qui incarnent la dimension transnationale de la filière commerciale. C’est dans la comparaison entre importateurs béninois et libanais que s’est construite l’analyse des pratiques économiques et du profil migratoire de ces importateurs. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

L’objectif principal de cette thèse est l’analyse des configurations du lien social naissant au sein de systèmes alternatifs d’échange local, afin d’y retrouver la trace du « don maussien ».<p>L’enquête porte sur un échange de biens, parallèle à l’échange marchand et localement accompli dans le contexte d’un monde globalisé, perspective qui inscrit la recherche dans le champ de l’anthropologie économique des mondes contemporains.<p>Le phénomène de la mondialisation, associé au progrès des techniques de communication, permettant d’observer des procédés analogues, engendrés par des causes communes dans différentes parties du monde, le terrain, tel que défini ci-dessus, fut réalisé sur deux sites socio-culturellement différents puisque implantés en Colombie pour l’un, et en France, pour l’autre. Ces deux sites furent traités comme un seul terrain multi-local dont le croisement des données recueillies a enrichi l’analyse. <p>Avant de passer à la partie descriptive des ethnographies réalisées, le travail évoque des théories et des expériences antérieures qui ont permis de reconnaître la différence entre les expérimentations monétaires et les systèmes d’échange multilatéral ou dispositifs comptables centralisés employant une unité de compte pour faciliter les échanges. La production et la consommation sont stimulées par un type de monnaie qui joue un rôle complémentaire à la devise officielle et permet des transactions multilatérales. <p>Devant la diversité des systèmes alternatifs à l’échange marchand, un choix s’imposait pour déterminer ceux qui seraient l’objet de l’enquête de terrain. Les initiatives sélectionnées pour une observation directe furent les foires de multi-troc colombiennes et les systèmes d’échange local (SEL) français. <p>Les deux monographies décrivent le déroulement des investigations en Colombie et en France, ainsi que les constats qui s’imposèrent à leur issue.<p>Il apparaît qu’au-delà de la raison économique d’échanger biens et services sans se soumettre à l’usage de l’argent comme fin en soi, les adhérents à ces expériences de micro-économie y trouvent un milieu propice à cultiver de nouvelles relations sociales. Les raisons de participer sont multiples mais s’alignent souvent sur des valeurs communes telles que la confiance, l’entraide, le respect de l’autre, la tolérance ou la solidarité, autant de logiques qui font de ces groupements, des espaces de création de liens sociaux favorables à l’émergence du don moderne. Tel qu’il a été développé et actualisé par Jacques T. Godbout, Alain Caillé et les exposants du Mouvement Anti-Utilitariste dans les Sciences Sociales –M.A.U.S.S.- ./ABSTRACT <p>The main objective of this thesis is the analysis of configurations of the social link emerging within alternate systems of local exchange, in order to find traces of the “maussian gift”.<p>The investigation covers the exchange of property which is parallel to trade exchange and is locally accomplished in the context of a global world, a perspective which integrates our research within the field of economic anthropology of contemporary worlds.<p>The phenomenon of the globalization, coupled with advances in communication technology, allows us to observe similar processes around the world, engendered by common causes. The fieldwork, as mentioned above, was realized on two socio - culturally different sites, one in Colombia, the other one in France. These two sites were treated as a single multi-local fieldwork, and their combined information enriched our analysis. <p>Before proceeding to the descriptive part of the conducted ethnographic research, the document evokes theories and previous experiences which allowed us to recognize the difference between monetary experiments and multilateral trading systems or devices using a centralized accounting unit to facilitate the exchanges. The production and the consumption are stimulated by a type of exchange that is complementary to the official currency and allows multilateral transactions. <p>Considering the variety of alternative systems in the exchange market, a choice was necessary to determine, who would be the object of the fieldwork. The initiatives selected for direct observation were the Colombian multi-barter fairs and the French systems of local exchange (SEL).<p>Both monographs describe the progress of investigations in Colombia and in France, as well as the resulting reports. <p>It seems that, apart from the economic reason for exchanging goods and services without being subject to the use of money, which is an end in itself, those who take part in such experiences of microeconomics find a convenient environment to cultivate new social relationships.<p>The reasons for participating are numerous, but often aligned on common values such as trust, mutual aid, respect for the others, tolerance or solidarity, which all contribute to transform these gatherings into spaces mean to create social links favourable to the emergence of the modern gift. This theory was developed and updated by Jacques T. Godbout, Alain Caillé and the members of the Anti-Utilitarian Movement in Social Science -M.A.U.S.S.-. <p><p> / Doctorat en sciences sociales, Orientation anthropologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The Republic of Nauru, a small Pacific island nation, has one of the highest obesity rates in the world. Obesity emerged rapidly in Nauru during the 1970s, a period characterised by political independence and unprecedented economic growth resulting from lucrative phosphate mining. In the mid-1970s, the Nauruan population was one of the first in the world in which obesity, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease – co-morbidities associated with obesity – were identified as significant public health concerns. Such ‘lifestyle diseases’ continue to have debilitating effects on the Nauruan community. Obesity is generally understood to result from an energy imbalance; that is, people eat and drink more calories over time than they expend. This biomedical paradigm is implicit in the majority of research relating to obesity, such that the lifestyle to which obesity is attributed is limited to diet and activity. Yet in practice, lifestyle is much more than this. The lifestyle of a particular group is related to political, legal, religious, economic and value systems, modes of education, communication, transport and healthcare, and styles of art, music and entertainment. In this thesis I draw on ethnographic participant observation carried out in the Republic of Nauru during 2010-11, life history interviews, and diverse historical materials to answer three questions. First, what characterises the Nauruan lifestyle? Second, in what ways did the Nauruan lifestyle change over the second half of the twentieth century, the time period during which obesity and diabetes rapidly escalated? Finally, how might these changes be linked to the emergence and persistence of ‘lifestyle diseases’ in Nauru? I focus on one characteristic that stood out prominently in many different aspects of Nauruan life: ‘island time’, or the suggestion that there is ‘No Action Unless Really Urgent’. In theorisation of obesity, such living for the moment has been interpreted as laziness, pleasure-seeking or lack of self-control. However, a deeper analysis reveals that island time emerged gradually in the latter half of the twentieth century as Nauruans incorporated market-derived moral values into their everyday lives. This has led to profound changes in the way people feel when engaged in social exchanges, and is linked to temporally-shorter and more spatially dispersed social networks. I thus recast living for the moment as representative of a social trend rather than individual self-interest, and obesity as a phenomenon associated with the space between bodies rather than within each one. This leads me to consider more closely the links between social relationships and health. In Nauru, as in many societies, it is difficult to disentangle the biological and the social; the same feeling of unhealthiness, for example, is associated with being clinically ill and having a fight with a loved one. Yet many activities that are associated with tightening social networks, and which are prominent in the lifestyle characterised by island time – eating, drinking, or sitting and gossiping, for example – are also associated with obesity emergence. As a result, being biomedically healthy and feeling healthy are now somewhat incompatible in Nauru. In concluding, I argue that the adoption of economic rhetoric into everyday life has re-shaped moral values, everyday social relationships, and the demographic health profile on Nauru.

Empresas startup simbolizam o epicentro de narrativas sobre o capitalismo contemporâneo. Essas organizações enxutas, aceleradas através de capital de risco e articuladas por meio de uma lógica de eficácia especulativa passaram a representar o que existe de mais novo na paisagem empresarial. Iniciativas como essas emergem a partir de um pano de fundo de profunda reestruturação de dinâmicas produtivas relacionadas a regimes de acumulação flexível. O que significa ser um empreendedor na paisagem de negócios formada por empresas startup no Brasil? Essa é a pergunta que norteou o trabalho de pesquisa etnográfica que serve como base para essa tese, fruto de um trabalho de campo entre os anos de 2014 e 2017, no Brasil e no Reino Unido com jovens empreendedores e suas redes de investidores, consultores e experts ao longo do processo de concepção, estruturação e operação de suas empresas. Meu interesse é compreender o processo concreto através do qual alguém se torna um empreendedor dentro dessa paisagem específica de ação econômica, especialmente como a lógica startup se torna uma forma de ser e estar no mundo. / Start-up companies symbolize the epicenter of narratives about contemporary capitalism. These lean organizations, accelerated by venture capital and articulated through a logic of speculative effectiveness have come to represent the edge of business. Initiatives such as these take shape amidst profound changes related to the restructuring of productive forces under flexible accumulation regimes. What does it mean to be an entrepreneur in Brazil’s contemporary start-up ecossystem? This question guided the ethnographic research that serves as the basis for this thesis, conducted between Brazil and the United Kingdom during the years of 2014 and 2017 among young entrepreneurs and networks of investors, consultants and experts in the making of their own start-up companies. My interest is to understand the concrete process through which one becomes an entrepreneur within this particular landscape of economic action, especially how the startup mindset becomes embeded in their ways of being in the world.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 467-472).

Cette recherche verse sur les tongs Havaianas qui sont faites au Brésil et commercializes internationalement, comme une chose vivante et qui detient une biographie culturelle. La dissertation augmente cette notion de vie des Havaianas pour sommer les processus d’agencement et les qualifications qui les construisent comme un produit et lui confère d’identité. L’objet de l’investigation a été la reconstitution certains de ces processus dont les tongs ont été soumis à transformer en Havaianas. L’argument du travail est sur un referencial théorique qui discute les agencements marchands, en considérant la multidimensionalité des aspect qui singularisent les tongs et ont été décisifs dans la transformation de cette commodity dans un bien de luxe. Sa trajectoire, dés la création en 1962, est analysée par quatre agencies: la publicité, le design, la compétition e les utilisateurs. Le étude sur le terrain n’est pas centre dans une seule region géographique à cause de l’amplitude du thème, mais Il est surtout donné dans lês points de vente des Havaianas qui agissent dans la consommation populaire et dans la consommation de luxe, dans les villes de São Paulo et Porto Alegre. / Esta pesquisa aborda os chinelos Havaianas, fabricados no Brasil e comercializados internacionalmente, como coisa que possui vida e detém uma biografia cultural. A dissertação amplia essa noção da vida da Havaianas para incluir os processos de agenciamento e as qualificações que a constroem enquanto produto e conferem identidade. O objeto da investigação foi a reconstituição de alguns desses processos a que os chinelos de tiras foram sujeitos até se transformarem em Havaianas. O argumento do trabalho está assentado em um referencial teórico que discute os agenciamentos mercadológicos, considerando a multidimensionalidade dos aspectos que singularizam os chinelos e foram decisivos na transformação dessa commodity em um bem de luxo. Sua trajetória, desde a criação em 1962, é analisada por meio de quatro agências: a publicidade, o design , a concorrência e os usuários. O trabalho de campo não está centrado em uma única região geográfica, devido à amplitude do tema, mas deu-se principalmente em pontos de venda da Havaianas que operam tanto no consumo popular como no de luxo, nas cidades de Porto Alegre e São Paulo. / This research discusses the Havaianas flip flops, manufactured in Brazil and internationally marketed as something that has a life and a cultural biography. The dissertation extends the idea of an Havaianas' life to include the agency processes and qualifications that build it as a product and give them identity. The investigation object was the reconstitution of some of these processes to which flip flops were subjected until turn into Havaianas. The argument is based in a theoretical framework that discusses the market agencements considering the multidimensionality aspects that singularizes the slippers and were decisive in the transformation of this commodity into a luxury good. Its trajetory, since launched in 1962 is analyzed through four agencies: advertising, design, competition and users. Field work is not centered on a single geographic place, due to the extent of the subject, but mostly took place in Havaianas sales points that operates both in popular consumption as in luxury, in the cities of Porto Alegre and São Paulo.

Empresas startup simbolizam o epicentro de narrativas sobre o capitalismo contemporâneo. Essas organizações enxutas, aceleradas através de capital de risco e articuladas por meio de uma lógica de eficácia especulativa passaram a representar o que existe de mais novo na paisagem empresarial. Iniciativas como essas emergem a partir de um pano de fundo de profunda reestruturação de dinâmicas produtivas relacionadas a regimes de acumulação flexível. O que significa ser um empreendedor na paisagem de negócios formada por empresas startup no Brasil? Essa é a pergunta que norteou o trabalho de pesquisa etnográfica que serve como base para essa tese, fruto de um trabalho de campo entre os anos de 2014 e 2017, no Brasil e no Reino Unido com jovens empreendedores e suas redes de investidores, consultores e experts ao longo do processo de concepção, estruturação e operação de suas empresas. Meu interesse é compreender o processo concreto através do qual alguém se torna um empreendedor dentro dessa paisagem específica de ação econômica, especialmente como a lógica startup se torna uma forma de ser e estar no mundo. / Start-up companies symbolize the epicenter of narratives about contemporary capitalism. These lean organizations, accelerated by venture capital and articulated through a logic of speculative effectiveness have come to represent the edge of business. Initiatives such as these take shape amidst profound changes related to the restructuring of productive forces under flexible accumulation regimes. What does it mean to be an entrepreneur in Brazil’s contemporary start-up ecossystem? This question guided the ethnographic research that serves as the basis for this thesis, conducted between Brazil and the United Kingdom during the years of 2014 and 2017 among young entrepreneurs and networks of investors, consultants and experts in the making of their own start-up companies. My interest is to understand the concrete process through which one becomes an entrepreneur within this particular landscape of economic action, especially how the startup mindset becomes embeded in their ways of being in the world.