A “society of the spectacle” in/of the Brazilian organizational studies: critical notes on an incipient reading

Abstract

This article analyzes the reception of Guy Debord in Administration. For this, it resorts to the author’s critical theory in order to explore the ways how researchers in the field have been incorporating the French theorist’s thought in their works. With scientific papers in hands and referring to the Western critical tradition inaugurated in the first decades of the 20th century, we introduce the limits and possibilities of these assumptions in Administration, in order to open up research possibilities with such a little-known essayist. We think that critical theory on the society of the spectacle, contrary to what has been done in organizational studies, and the reading by some Latin American intellectuals, is not restricted only to cultural studies. Thus, the way how to adopt Debord and his criticism in Administration is useful as a criticism to Administration just as the whole spectacle is criticized.