Organizing Vulnerability - by Melissa Tyler

Book Synopsis

How might vulnerability be rethought beyond its traditional associations with weakness and reimagined as the basis of solidarity?

Across the world, there are unprecedented numbers of dispossessed people; rights and resources are increasingly inaccessible to those who need them most, and the responsibilities we have to one another are continually undermined and exploited.

Referencing three sets of social relations - breathing, grieving and appearing, this book examines how recognition of our shared but always socially situated vulnerability could be the basis for organizing our lives in ways that better support relationality, solidarity and care, now and for the future.

Review Quotes

"Beautifully written, intellectually stimulating and much needed given the critical, pressing realities and lived experiences of those facing increasing precarity and marginalization. Importantly, the book responds to the enduring question of why we cannot recognise or act on our shared vulnerability, what reinforces the boundaries between us and how scholarship on organizations and organizing can advance our understanding of relationality and the ethics of interdependency." Sheena J. Vachhani, University of Bristol.

"We are all vulnerable throughout our lives and could never survive without each other. But nobody analyses the uneven, situational effects of our interdependence better than Melissa Tyler, who covers brilliantly all we need to change to create genuine human flourishing. Everybody should read this erudite, compelling book. I relished every page", Lynne Segal, author of Lean on Me.

About the Author

Melissa Tyler is a Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the University of Essex