Explaining Conflicted Collaboration: A Critical Realist Approach to Hegemony

The evidence on current developments in work organization suggests that the outcome is often one of `conflicted collaboration', where there is simultaneous interdependence and disconnection resulting in both coercive and collaborative experiences for workers. It is argued here that analysis and explanation of these findings requires engagement with both the active role of agency and the social structures of capitalist development. These analyses must also locate the workplace in wider social contexts. A critical realist approach to understanding hegemony offers considerable potential in this endeavour.