What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to examine how skills shape worker identity within the context of neoliberal capitalism.

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May 1, 2008

Skills and selves in the new workplace

Key Points

The aim is to examine how skills shape worker identity within the context of neoliberal capitalism.
Analyzed Internet sites marketing skills-related services
Investigated the semiotic properties of skills discourses
Focused on commensurability and commodification of skills
Skills terms, such as communication and leadership, influence notions of worker value
Disparate knowledge and practices are framed as commensurable within corporate frameworks
These skills are marketed as easily teachable and integral to aligning with corporate values

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the neoliberal imaginary of contemporary capitalism, workers' employment value depends on their skills. Skills terms, especially communication, team, and leadership, formulate aspects of personhood and modes of sociality as productive labor. The key semiotic properties of skills terms are strategic indexicality (expressing alignment with corporate values) and denotational indeterminacy (knowledge and practices referred to as skills are quite disparate). Yet all skills are assumed to be commensurable and readily available for inculcation into workers. Drawing from Internet sites marketing skills‐related services, I explore the semiotic properties of discourses that facilitate skills' commensurability and commodification. neoliberalism, discourse analysis, corporate culture, labor history, communication, commodification

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