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Une tragédie pour le dialogue social? Comment le numérique a perturbé la dimension théâtrale du dialogue social lors du premier confinement lié à la COVID-19

Une tragédie pour le dialogue social? Comment le numérique a perturbé la dimension théâtrale du dialogue social lors du premier confinement lié à la COVID-19

Vincent Pasquier et Pauline De Becdelièvre

Volume : 77-1 (2022)

Abstract

Our article investigates how social dialogue is transformed when labour-management interactions occur online. Until very recently, social dialogue dominantly took place in physical spaces. However, with COVID-19, physical meetings suddenly had to be replaced by remote interactions. Our article then proposes to investigate how social dialogue rituals are being transformed when labour-management interactions become virtual.

To tackle this question, we build upon Goffman’s writings (1973), in which social interactions are metaphorically compared to a theatre piece. Hence, we propose to study how the dramaturgy of labour-management interactions evolve, when both the stage and the backstage of social dialogue become virtual. To empirically analyse this question, we conducted 23 interviews with actors involved in social dialogue in France, 13 of whom represent the labour side and 10 the management side.

Our results highlight three mechanisms contributing to the erosion of the social dialogue dramaturgy on stage: the de-theatricalisation of unions’ interventions, the isolation of employee representatives and the desynchronisation of their interventions. Secondly, our study underlines how backstage interactions are impoverished - with the exception of these based on strong ties.

Based on these findings, our article contributes to the literature by assuming that social dialogue digitalization results in a power loss for the trade unions. Secondly, behind the apparent pacification of labour-management interactions, we point out that the de-theatricalisation of social dialogue could move the actors away from an integrative dynamic and lock them into a more distributive mode.

Keywords: digital, remote work, telework, WFH, Goffman, Social Dialog, Labor Relations, Union, Covid-19

 

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