The triumph of emptiness: consumption, higher education, and work organization

This second edition updates Alvesson's significant critique of the economy of persuasion, where organisations and groups assign resources to rhetoric, image, and reputation rather than production of goods and services. It examines critical phenomena such as the knowledge society, consumption, higher education, organisational change, and leadership.

This text views the contemporary economy as an economy of persuasion, where firms and institutions assign resources to rhetoric, image, and reputation rather than production of goods and services. It examines critically phenomena such as the knowledge society, consumption, higher education, organizational change, professionalization, and leadership.

In this book, Mats Alvesson aims to demystify some popular and upbeat claims about a range of phenomena, including the knowledge society, consumption, branding, higher education, organizational change, professionalization, and leadership. He contends that a culture of grandiosity is leading to numerous inflated claims. We no longer talk about plans but strategies. Supervisors have been replaced by managers. Goods have become brands. Wealthy countries try to show that they are knowledgesocieties through mass higher education but with limited effect on real qualifications or qualified job opport

"In this book, Mats Alvesson aims to demystify some popular and upbeat claims about a range of phenomena, including the knowledge society, consumption, branding, higher education, organizational change, professionalization, and leadership. He contends that a culture of grandiosity is leading to numerous inflated claims. We no longer talk about plans but 'strategies'. Supervisors have been replaced by 'managers', managers are referred to as executives. Management is about 'leadership'. Giving advice is 'coaching'. Companies become 'knowledge-intensive firms'. The book views the contemporary economy as an economy of persuasion, where firms and other institutions increasingly assign talent, energy, and resources to rhetoric, image, branding, reputation, and visibility. Using a wide range of empirical examples to illuminate the realms of consumption, higher education, organization, and leadership, this provocative and engaging book challenges established assumptions and contributes to a critical understanding of society as a whole."--Publisher's website