WORK, SLEEP, REPEAT the abstract labour of german management consultants;the abstract labour of german management consultants

Work, Sleep, Repeat is a fascinating account of the work regime of German management consultants. Examining one of the most sought-after – and secretive – graduate professions, the book provides a first-hand account of the boardroom culture of Europe's strongest economy. Analyzing how knowledge and power operate in this sector, Felix Stein explores a number of paradoxes. For example, while it is the job of management consultants to analyse the activities of other employees, they actually spend most of their time in luxurious seclusion away from them. In addition, despite having a strong sense of the importance of their work, consultants often find it difficult to explain to outsiders what it is they do. The book addresses these and other paradoxes by arguing that consultants are engaged in abstract labour. Anthropologists have long struggled with the question of how to describe contemporary work regimes which do not produce anything tangible. Stein demonstrates that elite work is predominantly abstract, in the fourfold sense that it is epistemically removed from the object of analysis, emotionally detached from it, several steps away from the assumed sources of economic value creation, and increasingly hard to grasp. In doing so, he offers new ways to think about white collar work and elites in the 21st century and establishes the notion of 'abstract labour' as a key category in social anthropology. Review "Bullshit jobs" (Graeber) or "abstract labour" (Marx)? Felix Stein's highly original auto-ethnography among German management consultants settles for the second conceptual framework. He explores how they can work so hard without purpose or result before, at some risk to his own prospects, comparing the consultants to British social anthropologists. \* Keith Hart, University of Pretoria, South Africa \* About the Author Felix Stein is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Cambridge, UK Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Note on the use of German terms -- Introduction -- Abstract labour, bureaucracy and corporate forms -- Non-places as field sites -- Structure of this book -- Chapter 1 Background: A Brief History of Management Consulting -- The beginnings of management consulting -- Consolidation and growth -- Management consulting in Germany -- Conclusion -- Chapter 2 Selling Speed: Capitalist Acceleration and Temporal Angst -- Selling speed -- A permanent state of exception -- Temporal exemplars -- Time management and temporal angst -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3 Economies of Legitimacy -- Consultants as outsiders -- Two kinds of outsider knowledge -- Consultants as insiders -- Consultants as liminal beings -- 'Superior' liminality -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4 Abstract Labour and the Absurd -- Present abundance and expected dearth -- Meet the team -- Spreadsheet magic -- Rituals of verification -- Thinking through slides -- Comic strips for the powerful -- Abstract labour and autopoiesis -- Project results and the absurd -- Conclusion -- Chapter 5 Selves and Commodities -- Caveat: Why not focus on salaries? -- Consulting as self-improvement -- First limits to self-improvement -- Consultants as commodities -- Selves and commodities -- Feedback -- Conclusion -- Chapter 6 Uncertainty at Work -- Gaps in the analyses -- Potential worlds -- Gaps in the subject -- The presence of experts -- Potential worlds II -- Free employees in theory and practice -- The partially influential employee -- Consolations of optimistic pragmatism -- Limits to profitable uncertainty -- Conclusion -- Conclusion: In the Business of Critique -- Anthropology as abstract labour? -- The business of critique -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Note on the use of German terms Introduction Abstract labour, bureaucracy and corporate forms Non-places as field sites Structure of this book Chapter 1 Background: A Brief History of Management Consulting The beginnings of management consulting Consolidation and growth Management consulting in Germany Conclusion Chapter 2 Selling Speed: Capitalist Acceleration and Temporal Angst Selling speed A permanent state of exception Temporal exemplars Time management and temporal angst Conclusion Chapter 3 Economies of Legitimacy Consultants as outsiders Two kinds of outsider knowledge Consultants as insiders Consultants as liminal beings ‘Superior’ liminality Conclusion Chapter 4 Abstract Labour and the Absurd Present abundance and expected dearth Meet the team Spreadsheet magic Rituals of verification Thinking through slides Comic strips for the powerful Abstract labour and autopoiesis Project results and the absurd Conclusion Chapter 5 Selves and Commodities Caveat: Why not focus on salaries? Consulting as self-improvement First limits to self-improvement Consultants as commodities Selves and commodities Feedback Conclusion Chapter 6 Uncertainty at Work Gaps in the analyses Potential worlds Gaps in the subject The presence of experts Potential worlds II Free employees in theory and practice The partially influential employee Consolations of optimistic pragmatism Limits to profitable uncertainty Conclusion Conclusion: In the Business of Critique Anthropology as abstract labour? The business of critique Conclusion Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Conclusion Bibliography Index