Bad Enough Ergonomics
The article analyzes ergonomics as a social and cultural phenomenon, as something that is formulated and described by speakers in a specific social context; in a company that is specialized in producing ergonomic office furniture. Through a case study of an office chair, the article examines how erg...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2017-01-01
|
| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016685135 |
| _version_ | 1818478854248857600 |
|---|---|
| author | Virve Peteri |
| author_facet | Virve Peteri |
| author_sort | Virve Peteri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article analyzes ergonomics as a social and cultural phenomenon, as something that is formulated and described by speakers in a specific social context; in a company that is specialized in producing ergonomic office furniture. Through a case study of an office chair, the article examines how ergonomics and its association with the vision of the potential users and their working spaces are constructed by the relevant actors in project meetings and individual interviews during the manufacturing process. The article is concerned with how, in the process of producing an office chair, the chair gains an identity of an aesthetic design object and how this comes to mean the reformulation of the idea of ergonomics. The empirical analysis also provides insight into how the somewhat grand discourses of soft capitalism or aesthetic economy are not abstract, but very much grounded in everyday practices of an organization. The article establishes how the vision shared by all the relevant actors invites active, flexible, and cooperative end-users and how the vision also has potential material effects. The research is an ethnographically inspired case study that draws ideas from discursive psychology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T09:53:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc38eeae3419484280e5915bd446c7cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T09:53:21Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc38eeae3419484280e5915bd446c7cd2022-12-22T01:53:35ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402017-01-01710.1177/215824401668513510.1177_2158244016685135Bad Enough ErgonomicsVirve Peteri0University of Tampere, FinlandThe article analyzes ergonomics as a social and cultural phenomenon, as something that is formulated and described by speakers in a specific social context; in a company that is specialized in producing ergonomic office furniture. Through a case study of an office chair, the article examines how ergonomics and its association with the vision of the potential users and their working spaces are constructed by the relevant actors in project meetings and individual interviews during the manufacturing process. The article is concerned with how, in the process of producing an office chair, the chair gains an identity of an aesthetic design object and how this comes to mean the reformulation of the idea of ergonomics. The empirical analysis also provides insight into how the somewhat grand discourses of soft capitalism or aesthetic economy are not abstract, but very much grounded in everyday practices of an organization. The article establishes how the vision shared by all the relevant actors invites active, flexible, and cooperative end-users and how the vision also has potential material effects. The research is an ethnographically inspired case study that draws ideas from discursive psychology.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016685135 |
| spellingShingle | Virve Peteri Bad Enough Ergonomics SAGE Open |
| title | Bad Enough Ergonomics |
| title_full | Bad Enough Ergonomics |
| title_fullStr | Bad Enough Ergonomics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bad Enough Ergonomics |
| title_short | Bad Enough Ergonomics |
| title_sort | bad enough ergonomics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016685135 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT virvepeteri badenoughergonomics |