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Multiplicity, Virtuality and Organization: The Contribution of Gilles Deleuze

University of York, UK, sl519{at}york.ac.uk

Torkild Thanem

Växjö University, Sweden, torkild.thanem{at}fek.su.se

Formal organization is often seen as opposed or resistant to change, in theory as well as in practice. Drawing primarily on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze we argue that the reverse is true — that organization is itself a dynamic quality and that change and organization are imbricated in each other. We expand several key concepts of this philosophy in relation to organization (the multiplicity of order and the multiplicity of organization, strata and meshworks, virtuality and multitude) all of which draw attention to the unstable but ever-present forces that subvert and disrupt, escape, exceed and change organization. This enables an understanding of organization as creatively autosubversive — not fixed, but in motion, never resting and constantly trembling.

Key Words: Deleuze • change • order • virtual

This version was published on October 1, 2007

Organization Studies, Vol. 28, No. 10, 1483-1501 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0170840607075675


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