Machismo as a mode of organizing

Abstract

The study of Business and Management is devoid of many aspects of social and organizational life and much of what is on offer puts a great deal of distance between the reader and reality. Gender violence is barely mentioned yet globalization, state institutions, organized work, negotiating the city and family life are replete with evidence of this everyday aspect of human interaction. Bolaño’s book reveals this underlying reality of physical, sexual and psychological violence by men against women and more generally, of human beings towards each other. In 2666, there drips a concern for, and interest in, ‘machismo’. The chapter examines the notion of ‘machismo’ as a particular ‘mode of organizing’ wherein physical violence is not only accepted: it is essential. This is the primary object of a particular male gaze and it encourages a mode of organizing which has recently developed apace in its power and saliency.