Abstract:
This paper interrogates and contrasts representations of work and Utopia in two examples
of popular culture. The examples are a sample of contemporary popular management
books and a sample of work-related themes in the popular music of Bruce Springsteen. In
comparing the two the paper examines how they both use utopian representations as a key
element of their claims, yet do so in markedly different ways. It is argued that Springsteen
uses a "voice from within" to explore the ambiguities and paradoxes that emerge from the
gap between real experience and utopian desire. Conversely, popular management books
tend to speak from a "voice from above" that actively suppress ambiguity and ignore power
in order to reproduce the dominant ethos of contemporary capitalism. Thus while popular
management provides uncritical support for its imaginary Utopia, Springsteen provides a
compelling critique of the promises of economic freedom through capitalism-promises
which management writers are so often complicit in (re)producing.
