Weiskopf, R.
Dis/organising visibilities: Governmentalisation and counter-transparency
(2023) Organization, 30 (2), pp. 326-344.
Abstract
This paper situates organisational transparency in an agonistic space that is shaped by the interplay of ‘mechanisms of power that adhere to a truth’ and critical practices that come from below in a movement of ‘not being governed like that and at that cost’ (Foucault, 2003: 265). This positioning involves an understanding of transparency as a practice that is historically contingent and multiple, and thus negotiable and contested. By illustrating the entanglement of ‘power through transparency’ and ‘counter-transparency’ with reference to the example of Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing, the paper contributes to the critique of transparency and to debates on the use of Foucauldian concepts in post-panoptic contexts of organising. By introducing the notion of ‘counter-transparency’, the paper expands the conceptual vocabulary for understanding the politics and ethics of managing and organising visibility. © The Author(s) 2021.
Author Keywords
Counter-conduct; Parrhesia; Snowden; surveillance; transparency; visibility; whistleblowing
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