The present thesis is an exploration of normalization processes and the problem of appropriation in labor conflict. More specifically, it analyses the way contemporary labor conflicts in nursing relate to, and thereby help to illuminate, changes in modes of gender normalization under neoliberalism, and how nurse labor conflict thereby sheds light on wider patterns of labor strife. Analysis shows how a “virtue script” bound up with long-lasting patterns of gender normalization in nursing becomes tangled with forms of abstract labor related to “new public management” reform. Although the restructuring of work threatens public professionals’ autonomy, at the same time, it provides opportunities for resistance through collective action. What is more, this restructuring process facilitates the appropriation by nurses and, by implication, other public workers, of the discourses and ideals that belonged to the ethos of the Keynesian welfare state. However, this is a contradictory process, since the discourses and ideals thus appropriated inhere in modes of labor exploitation and normalization. Analysis indicates that although appropriation risks to reinforce gendered and exploitative ideas about work, the strategy can be a lever of collective mobilization, and one of its possible outcomes is the radical transformation of the entities it takes possession of. This interview study is mainly based on four journal articles, attending to different aspects of an act of collective resignation taken by registered nurses at a Swedish hospital ward. This is an emerging form of collective action and the thesis provides one of the first analyses of this new grassroots and workplace-based phenomenon, which may be considered its particular empirical contribution. On the other hand, the chapters of the cover essay unfold a sustained argument on normalization and appropriation, thereby elaborating theoretical themes broached in the articles. The focal point of this discussion is a certain concept of form, deployed in Marxist and feminist theory, a concept pointing to the identity of thought-forms and practically enacted forms. Further, these forms migrate: they are evoked in practices wherein “the mind is not active as sentient” (Hegel), later to be projected by the mind onto different entities. The results of the discussion thus question common approaches to normalization. In particular, it is untenable to oppose a tacit and internal mode of control where individuals are induced to comply by attaching to identifications (by becoming/being made into subjects) to an overt and external mode reliant on sheer coercion. This matter–form dichotomy should be dissolved, and modes of coercion should be understood to leave subjective imprints—not at the level of identity but at the level of thought’s infrastructure, that is, form. / Föreliggande avhandling utforskar normaliseringsprocesser och problem rörande appropriering i samband med arbetskonflikter. Avhandlingen analyserar hur sam-tida arbetskonflikter i sjuksköterskeprofessionen relaterar till och sålunda belyser förändrad genusnormalisering i en nyliberal tid, samt hur dessa konflikter belyser övergripande konfliktmönster i arbetslivet. Analysen påvisar hur en ”dygdighets-norm” kopplad till långlivade modaliteter av genusnormalisering sammanvävs med en form av abstrakt arbete relaterad till sentida NPM-reformer. Men medan denna omstruktureringsprocess urholkar den autonomi som professioner i offentlig sektor länge innehaft medför den också möjligheter till kollektiva motståndshandlingar. Vidare möjliggör denna nyliberala omstrukturering sjuksköterskors—liksom andra offentliga professioners—appropriering av diskurser och ideal som var centrala i den tidigare, keynesianska, välfärdsstaten; men detta är en motsägelsefull process då dessa diskurser och ideal är sprungna ur, och präglade av, historier av utsugning och normalisering. Analysen visar att medan appropriering visserligen riskerar att reproducera former av normalisering underlättar denna strategi mobilisering och kan i förlängningen omvandla övertagna diskurser och ideal. Denna intervjustudie är huvudsakligen baserad på fyra artiklar: de analyserar olika aspekter av en kollektiv uppsägningsaktion bland sjuksköterskor vid en sjukhus-avdelning. Detta är en framväxande typ av aktion i Sverige och avhandlingen är en av de första studierna av denna gräsrots- och arbetsplatsbaserade kampform, vilket kan ses som dess empiriska forskningsbidrag. I kappan förs, å andra sidan, en kon-tinuerlig teoretisk diskussion kring normalisering och appropriering som utvecklar teman som lyfts i de enskilda artiklarna. Diskussionen kretsar kring ett visst form-begrepp, som härrör ur marxistisk och feministisk teori och som påvisar en identitet mellan tankeform och praktiskt artikulerad form. Dessa former migrerar; de uttrycks omedvetet i praktiker där individens fokus är annorstädes och projiceras sedan på andra praktiker. I diskussionen ifrågasätts sålunda vedertagna förståelser av norma-lisering: det är teoretiskt ofruktbart att ställa omedvetna, interna, former av kontroll där lydnad eller konformitet uppnås via internaliseringen av påbjudna identiteter mot medvetna, externa, eller tvingande, former av kontroll. En häri latent dikotomi om materia respektive form bör upplösas i syfte att synliggöra hur ett slags kontroll över arbete lämnar subjektiverande avtryck, inte genom att påbjuda identifikationer utan genom att forma vad som kan beskrivas som tänkandets minsta beståndsdelar. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 2 och 4 inskickat.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 2 and 4 submitted.</p>

This thesis examines scientific, technological, and organizational innovations in Newfoundland's saltfish industry between 1887 and 1937. Since entering the orbit of European capital in the fifteenth century, Newfoundland's economy and society was organized around the export of saltfish (salted and dried cod) to consuming markets in Southern Europe and Latin America. By the nineteenth century, saltfish production was organized primarily around the small-scale fishing family financed by merchant capital. This mode of production consistently produced a large aggregate amount of saltfish of highly uneven quality. By the late-nineteenth century, however, this production system was placed under pressure as consumers in the key European markets demanded uniformly high quality saltfish, and Newfoundland's competitors began providing it. Using archival and secondary sources, this thesis examines attempts to improve and modernize saltfish production in Newfoundland over a fifty-year period, beginning with the formation of the first Fisheries Commission in 1887.I argue that saltfish producers had to confront and overcome "the problem of fluctuation." This refers to both the biogeophysical processes controlling the quantity of cod extracted (reproduction, predation, ocean dynamics, etc.) and the biogeophysical processes determining the quality of saltfish produced and consumed (decomposition, preservation, socio-biology of consumption). In contrast to many studies of the political economy of fishing, and inspired by agrarian political economy, I develop a theoretical framework called "aquarian political economy" that expands the analytical focus beyond extraction to include the entire circulation of capital. Between 1887 and 1937, I document a number of attempts at reshaping biogeophysical processes to suit the dynamics of capital accumulation in the "upstream" (pre-extraction) and "downstream" (post-extraction) phases of production. These innovations proceeded by way of introducing abstract, scientific forms of measure, which identified and helped render biogeophysical processes as amenable to human control. I define these innovations as moments in an expanded conception of the "real subsumption of nature under capital." Although many of these innovations and interventions were defined by false starts and only partial success, I conclude that this period witnessed a shift in the notion of expertise from practical experience on the ocean to techno-scientific managerial knowledge behind the desk. Through my empirical research and theoretical framework, this thesis makes a contribution to the political economy of fishing, critical resource geography, and the historical political economy of Newfoundland.

FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Cearà / A presente Tese compreende um exame crÃtico da estrutura de funcionamento do sistema do capital, à luz da contradiÃÃo central assinalada por Karl Marx nos Grundrisse. A contradiÃÃo vai se tornando visÃvel com a substituiÃÃo do trabalho vivo (trabalho humano direto) pelo trabalho morto (mÃquinas). Em decorrÃncia, esvazia-se a substÃncia do valor e os trabalhadores diretos sÃo reduzidos à condiÃÃo de apÃndice de mÃquinas que trabalham, restando-lhes as atividades de reguladores e de suportes para complexos automÃticos. O movimento lÃgico do valor e o transcurso histÃrico do processo de subsunÃÃo do trabalho ao capital, propiciam a hipÃtese de que o conjunto dos trabalhadores estaria sendo submetido a uma tendÃncia perversa que qualifica desqualificando suas aptidÃes e habilidades. Ao mesmo tempo, simplifica o trabalho e desvaloriza a forÃa-de-trabalho. A fim de averiguar tal processo de disrupÃÃo do mundo do trabalho, constituiu-se um objeto de pesquisa que permitisse checar a atuaÃÃo de trabalhadores tidos, pelo senso comum, como altamente qualificados. Eis a razÃo pela qual se tomou como plano investigativo, a âbusca dos egressos do CEFETCEâ no mercado de trabalho, centrando a investigaÃÃo nos haveres tecnolÃgicos de mecatrÃnicos e telemÃticos. A questÃo bÃsica à verificar atà que ponto esses operadores high-tech ativam a gama dos conhecimentos obtidos em sua formaÃÃo teÃrico-prÃtica cefeteana, no dia-a-dia das atividades profissionais. Foram entrevistados sessenta tecnÃlogos, alÃm de professores, administradores industriÃrios e operÃrios de fÃbrica vinculados a dÃspares ramos de produÃÃo de mercadorias. As entrevistas foram sempre secundadas por visitas a vÃrias plantas produtivas. Como resultado, o pesquisador foi premiado com um fÃrtil material sociolÃgico, prenhe de expressÃes simbÃlicas e de constructos tÃcnicos. A materialidade e a imaterialidade das experiÃncias, explÃcita e implicitamente vivenciadas, evidenciaram a âcontradiÃÃo em processoâ no coraÃÃo de sistemas de produÃÃo automÃticos. Nestes, estÃo reservados para os trabalhadores imediatos atos fetichistas como âcuidarâ (de mÃquinas), âassistirâ (linhas de produÃÃo), âolharâ (supervisÃrios) e âtrocar placasâ (eletrÃnicas) etc. / The present Thesis comprises a critical examination of the structure of the working of the system of the capital, in the light of the central contradiction indicated by Karl Marx in the Grundrisse. The expression of the contradiction gets visibility with the substitution for dead labor (machines) of live labor (human direct labor). Therefore, the substance of value becomes empty and the direct laborers are reduced to the condition of appendix of machines they work with, remaining to them the activities of regulating and supporting the automatic complexes. The logical movement of value and the historical course of the process of subsumption of labor to capital provide the hypothesis that the working class were being submitted to a perverse trend that qualifies in a disqualifying manner its aptitudes and abilities. At the same time, that process simplifies the labor and devaluates labor-force. In order to investigate such process of disruption of the world of labor it was crucial to choose an object of research that allowed checking the performance of workers recognized by common sense as highly qualified. That is the reason for which the âsearch of the egresses of the CEFETCEâ in the labor market was the core of the investigation. Technological assets of mechathronics and telematics technicians were investigate. The basic question of the inquiry is to verify to what extent these high-tech operators activate, the gamma of knowledge acquired during theoretical and practical formation at CEFETCE, to their everyday professional activities. Sixty technologists were interviewed, as well as, professors, industrial managers and laborers of various branches of merchandise production. The interviews always were seconded by visits to some productive plants. As a result, the researcher was awarded with a fertile sociological material, pregnant of symbolic expressions and technological constructs. The materiality and the immateriality of the experiences evidenced âthe contradiction in processâ in the heart of automatic systems of production. In those systems, fetishist production acts are set aside for the direct workers, in the form âcaring ofâ (machines), âwatchingâ (production lines), âlooking atâ (monitors) and âchanging platesâ (electronics) etc.

MARQUES, Marcelo Santos. A qualificação profissional no foco da crítica ao sistema do capital: em busca dos egressos do CEFETCE. 2009. 387f. Tese (Doutorado em Sociologia) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, Programa de Pós- Graduação em Sociologia, Fortaleza-CE, 2009. / Submitted by Liliane oliveira (morena.liliane@hotmail.com) on 2012-01-10T15:37:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_TESE_MSMARQUES.pdf: 2445595 bytes, checksum: afc1130426010f7be2f1cd4b4ee7be05 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-01-11T15:21:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_TESE_MSMARQUES.pdf: 2445595 bytes, checksum: afc1130426010f7be2f1cd4b4ee7be05 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-01-11T15:21:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_TESE_MSMARQUES.pdf: 2445595 bytes, checksum: afc1130426010f7be2f1cd4b4ee7be05 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / The present Thesis comprises a critical examination of the structure of the working of the system of the capital, in the light of the central contradiction indicated by Karl Marx in the Grundrisse. The expression of the contradiction gets visibility with the substitution for dead labor (machines) of live labor (human direct labor). Therefore, the substance of value becomes empty and the direct laborers are reduced to the condition of appendix of machines they work with, remaining to them the activities of regulating and supporting the automatic complexes. The logical movement of value and the historical course of the process of subsumption of labor to capital provide the hypothesis that the working class were being submitted to a perverse trend that qualifies in a disqualifying manner its aptitudes and abilities. At the same time, that process simplifies the labor and devaluates labor-force. In order to investigate such process of disruption of the world of labor it was crucial to choose an object of research that allowed checking the performance of workers recognized by common sense as highly qualified. That is the reason for which the “search of the egresses of the CEFETCE” in the labor market was the core of the investigation. Technological assets of mechathronics and telematics technicians were investigate. The basic question of the inquiry is to verify to what extent these high-tech operators activate, the gamma of knowledge acquired during theoretical and practical formation at CEFETCE, to their everyday professional activities. Sixty technologists were interviewed, as well as, professors, industrial managers and laborers of various branches of merchandise production. The interviews always were seconded by visits to some productive plants. As a result, the researcher was awarded with a fertile sociological material, pregnant of symbolic expressions and technological constructs. The materiality and the immateriality of the experiences evidenced “the contradiction in process” in the heart of automatic systems of production. In those systems, fetishist production acts are set aside for the direct workers, in the form “caring of” (machines), “watching” (production lines), “looking at” (monitors) and “changing plates” (electronics) etc. / A presente Tese compreende um exame crítico da estrutura de funcionamento do sistema do capital, à luz da contradição central assinalada por Karl Marx nos Grundrisse. A contradição vai se tornando visível com a substituição do trabalho vivo (trabalho humano direto) pelo trabalho morto (máquinas). Em decorrência, esvazia-se a substância do valor e os trabalhadores diretos são reduzidos à condição de apêndice de máquinas que trabalham, restando-lhes as atividades de reguladores e de suportes para complexos automáticos. O movimento lógico do valor e o transcurso histórico do processo de subsunção do trabalho ao capital, propiciam a hipótese de que o conjunto dos trabalhadores estaria sendo submetido a uma tendência perversa que qualifica desqualificando suas aptidões e habilidades. Ao mesmo tempo, simplifica o trabalho e desvaloriza a força-de-trabalho. A fim de averiguar tal processo de disrupção do mundo do trabalho, constituiu-se um objeto de pesquisa que permitisse checar a atuação de trabalhadores tidos, pelo senso comum, como altamente qualificados. Eis a razão pela qual se tomou como plano investigativo, a “busca dos egressos do CEFETCE” no mercado de trabalho, centrando a investigação nos haveres tecnológicos de mecatrônicos e telemáticos. A questão básica é verificar até que ponto esses operadores high-tech ativam a gama dos conhecimentos obtidos em sua formação teórico-prática cefeteana, no dia-a-dia das atividades profissionais. Foram entrevistados sessenta tecnólogos, além de professores, administradores industriários e operários de fábrica vinculados a díspares ramos de produção de mercadorias. As entrevistas foram sempre secundadas por visitas a várias plantas produtivas. Como resultado, o pesquisador foi premiado com um fértil material sociológico, prenhe de expressões simbólicas e de constructos técnicos. A materialidade e a imaterialidade das experiências, explícita e implicitamente vivenciadas, evidenciaram a “contradição em processo” no coração de sistemas de produção automáticos. Nestes, estão reservados para os trabalhadores imediatos atos fetichistas como “cuidar” (de máquinas), “assistir” (linhas de produção), “olhar” (supervisórios) e “trocar placas” (eletrônicas) etc.