The Annual Gehman Lecture: The Pandemic Workplace
Room: 3018
The Pandemic Workplace
The Annual Department of Anthropology Gehman Lecture, delivered by Ilana Gerhson, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University
March 27, 2023, 11:00 am
Social Science Centre, 3018
Beginning from the assumption that the US workplace has become a key site in which American develop their political imagination of what it means to be a democratic citizen, in this talk, Gershon explores what the pandemic has revealed about how the workplace functions as the site of private government. Gershon addresses the complexities of learning fundamental lessons about governing through how today's workplaces organize control, authority, and decision-making. In the context of the pandemic, many Americans began to interpret workplace interactions through classic social contract theory, returning to foundational questions about the sacrifices asked of individuals for the common good, and what democratic participation should look like in deliberative decision-making processes. Gershon ultimately argues that what the pandemic and our current political climate reveals is an urgent need to see contemporary American workplaces as laboratories of different approaches to democratic practices that can demonstrate (or fail to demonstrate) to American workers the value and effectiveness of participating in a deliberative democracy.
Supported by the Social Science Student Donation Fund