Another World Is Possible—It Is Already Here: A Review and Research Agenda on Alternative Organizing

Abstract

Amid multiple crises on a planetary scale, alternative organizing offers plural possibilities for reconfiguring societal relations and bringing into being a more livable world. Despite growing interest, the literature on alternative organizing remains fragmented, marked by a narrow and selective integration of disciplinary and geographic knowledge communities. This fragmentation leads to ambiguities and contradictions in concepts and theory development. To address these issues, we review 50 years of research on alternative organizing, following three steps. First, we map the genealogy of research on alternative organizing, identify its relations with institutional orders, and distinguish key perspectives. Second, we develop an integrative framework that (a) identifies three constitutive dimensions of alternative organizing—imaginaries, alterity, and subjectivities—and (b) synthesizes the processes, frictions, and outcomes for societal transformation. Drawing on this framework, we suggest avenues to attune to the ways alternative organizing unsettles dominant orders and cultivates the present and future, other-wise.

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