Anxieties, defenses and perverse dynamics in a manufacturing firm

This paper aims to demonstrate how a socioanalytic perspective deepens an anthropological one. We focused our attention on the instrumentalization of personal and collective anxieties within a small organization, in order to reveal how and why power works. By using psychoanalytic concepts, we were able to draw the space of possibles that nests the relations of dominance. Our research draws on fieldwork conducted in a rural community in Northern Romania. We used participant observation, semi-structured and unstructured interviews. Relying on the observed vulnerabilities and local idiosyncrasies that create specific necessities and expectations, we tried to show how defense systems, basic assumptions and perverse dynamics shape the organization's culture.

Automated summary

This paper aims to deepen an anthropological perspective by using a socioanalytic viewpoint, and reveals how and why power works by examining the instrumentalization of personal and collective anxieties within a small organization. The research draws on fieldwork conducted in a rural community in Northern Romania, using participant observation and interviews to analyze the vulnerabilities, local idiosyncrasies, defense systems, basic assumptions, and perverse dynamics that shape the organization's culture.