Negotiations within the firm : a symbol of honour and identity recompositions
pp. 791-822
Based on ethnographical research in industry, this article analyses different episodes in the history of social relations and negotiations within a firm in the nuclear energy sector. By means of a diachronic perspective to examine the complex relation between history and social memory, the author explores from inside, the system of actors within the firm in order to analyse how the field for social negotiations develops. This analysis, favorizing a singular approach which allows for sociability trajectories of people and the effects of local interaction, envisages a space in which social compromise develops and renews itself. Due to its capacity to restore the density of social exchange in production relations and also to decode the sym¬bolic struggles which animate social confrontation, this approach shows the interest there may be in enrichening the traditional interpretations of negotiation within the firm.
