The Sensory Imperative

Christina Juhlin*, Robin Holt

*Corresponding author for this work

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    Abstract

    With this essay, we identify and resist a sensory imperative in management and organizational research and beyond. We define the sensory imperative as an uncritical embrace of the idea that the senses offer a unique and attractive methodological and political position for studying managerial and organizational life and for challenging dominant forms of knowledge production. By falling in with this imperative, the turn to the senses in management and organization studies risks losing sight of its own mediations. We propose three ways of regaining sight of these mediations, which, we argue, come together as an analytical sensorisation – a study of, rather than with, the senses.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalManagement Learning
    Volume53
    Issue number4
    Pages (from-to)640-651
    Number of pages12
    ISSN1350-5076
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

    Bibliographical note

    Published online: 9 December 2021.

    Keywords

    • Representation
    • Senses
    • Sensorial politics
    • Sensory methodologies

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