Sociologies of Space, Work and Organisation: From Fragments to Spatial Theory

Abstract

Work organisations are made by the arrangement of space and working lives are made and lived through these spaces. Yet, explicit interest in space has been marginal to the development of sociologies of work organisation. Despite this, spatial analysis has often offered support to established theories of work and organisation. This paper reviews this contribution, excavating the spatial from past studies intended to address the labour process; semiotics and discourse; and the nature of everyday working lives. The second part of the paper emphasises the importance of making space more central to our conceptual and theoretical concerns and draws on spatial theory from social and cultural geography to do so. The paper endeavours to integrate the fragmented insights from different scholarly paradigms in the sociology of work with this spatial theory and to promote an enhanced spatial sensibility for the sociology of work and organisations. This review and fusion contributes to wider calls to develop a new sociology of work that prioritises the centrality of space to understanding work.