The Politics of Emotion: A Feminist Reading of Bounded Rationality

Abstract

A feminist perspective on organizational theory exposes the male-centered, or patriarchal, worldview. By virtue of incorporating masculine systems as normal and rational, builders of extant theory produce and reproduce certain ways of understanding organizational life. A feminist reading of both concepts, bounded and rationality, opens up possibilities for alternative ways of organizing and for rewriting organizational theory. The implications of such an orientation for feminist theory are far reaching. Most important, this perspective challenges commonsense understanding of gender and taken-for-granted definitions of masculine and feminine. Both the concepts of bounded and rationality reflect a limited view of organizing, one defined by patriarchy as a dominant value system. Rationality sets up a mind-body dualism, devalues physical labor, and co-opts emotional experience. The concept of bounded emotionality refers to an alternative mode of organizing in which nurturance, caring, community, supportiveness, and interrelatedness are fused with individual responsibility to shape organizational experiences.

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