Staging the Social Drama of Work

Celia Bense Ferreira Alves (1)

1 CSU - Cultures et sociétés urbaines - UMR7112

This paper shows how conducting the ethnographic study of a theater hall and company can help define theater activity. Once the aesthetic of the social organization is set apart from the proper division of labor, theater appears as a collective activity which requires the cooperation of eight groups playing different social roles. The cooperation modes rest on a meshing of direct or indirect services for the actors who carry out the core task of performing. This specific organization of work around a central group is what makes the activity artistic. Simultaneously, the service relation offers the possibility for some categories to bring their relationship with actors closer to a state of symmetry and sometimes reverse asymmetry. As a status enhancing opportunity, service relationship for actors also directly or indirectly provide the grounds for participant commitment and thus guarantee long-lasting operation for the theatrical organization.

Mots clés: Theater ethnography; Collective activity; Division of labor; Tasks; Social roles; Service relationship; Commitment

Mots clés: Ethnographie d'un théâtre; activité collective; division du travail; rôles sociaux; relations de service; implication

Domaines: Sociologie

Celia Bense Ferreira Alves. Staging the Social Drama of Work: Ethnography of a Theater Company as a Means of Analyzing Theater Activity. Qualitative Sociology Review, 2007, III (3), pp.78-99. ⟨halshs-00648676⟩