Production of Subjectivities in a Supportive Economic Enterprise: the Case of a Recyclers Association in Bogota

Abstract

This paper is the result of the search for alternatives to understand other organizations that are not capitalist. It is based on a study of a joint economic initiative developed by solid waste collectors (recyclers) in Bogota (Colombia) that began in 2011. A debate is made with the traditional organizational theory due to its dominant view of structures, and a proposal is made to study the constitutive logic of social subjects in organizations with their possibilities of giving new meaning to and producing reality. For instance, the production of subjectivities of a group of recyclers is studied, describing the shared meanings and practices that unite its members, in order to assess their logic of non-capitalist reproduction, work-based cooperative logic and the communities that constitute their reference of existence.