Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Organization Studies |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| ISSN | 0170-8406 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Jan 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Epub ahead of print. Published online: January 28, 2019Keywords
- Data
- Excess
- Ignorance
- Paradox
- Sacred
Cite this
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Sacred Excess : Organizational Ignorance in an Age of Toxic Data. / Schwarzkopf, Stefan.
In: Organization Studies, 28.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Sacred Excess
T2 - Organizational Ignorance in an Age of Toxic Data
AU - Schwarzkopf, Stefan
N1 - Epub ahead of print. Published online: January 28, 2019
PY - 2019/1/28
Y1 - 2019/1/28
N2 - Actors in data-intensive industries at times deliberately induce and reproduce organizational ignorance by engaging in over-production of data. This observation leads the paper to make two claims. First, members of these industries fetishize data excess not in order to reduce, but in order to reproduce and stabilize organizational ignorance. Second, in this process of fetishization, organizational ignorance gives rise to forms of collective effervescence similar to that found in totemistic religions. This effervescence allows organizational actors to draw defining lines around that which is marked as awe-inspiring, dangerous and off-limits, namely the sacred. In reviewing organizational ignorance from the perspective of the sacred, this paper proposes that, paradoxically, contemporary forms of data creation allow companies and industries to organize themselves around ignorance as opposed to the promise of knowledge and insight. The paper uses this theoretical proposal in order to outline the contours of an alternative ontology of organizational ignorance, one that understands this phenomenon in terms of excessive presence of data and information.
AB - Actors in data-intensive industries at times deliberately induce and reproduce organizational ignorance by engaging in over-production of data. This observation leads the paper to make two claims. First, members of these industries fetishize data excess not in order to reduce, but in order to reproduce and stabilize organizational ignorance. Second, in this process of fetishization, organizational ignorance gives rise to forms of collective effervescence similar to that found in totemistic religions. This effervescence allows organizational actors to draw defining lines around that which is marked as awe-inspiring, dangerous and off-limits, namely the sacred. In reviewing organizational ignorance from the perspective of the sacred, this paper proposes that, paradoxically, contemporary forms of data creation allow companies and industries to organize themselves around ignorance as opposed to the promise of knowledge and insight. The paper uses this theoretical proposal in order to outline the contours of an alternative ontology of organizational ignorance, one that understands this phenomenon in terms of excessive presence of data and information.
KW - Data
KW - Excess
KW - Ignorance
KW - Paradox
KW - Sacred
KW - Data
KW - Excess
KW - Ignorance
KW - Paradox
KW - Sacred
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U2 - 10.1177/0170840618815527
DO - 10.1177/0170840618815527
M3 - Review
JO - Organization Studies
JF - Organization Studies
SN - 0170-8406
ER -