Subjection and resistance. A sociological analysis of a work experience under the system of production through micromovements

Abstract

In this paper we present the analysis of a work experience under the Methods Time Measurement (MTM). This analysis can help us shed some light on the enigma of how and why, in certain contexts, we sustain with our action relations of subjection that we experience as injurious and which we cannot accept as being legitimate.We shall defend the thesis that the special combination of commitment and resistance that is present in the production carried out by workers establishes them as subjets of the production bond, to the extent that they develop and express in that combination their sense of autonomy and their own dignity and self-respect. At the same time, however, we shall see how that resistance binds them to subjection, as it makes the production order possible and efficient. At least in this case, if the workers sustain an injurious bond it is because their actions take place in a veritable iron cage where their dignity has turned into one of the basic pillars of their subjection.