The Pandemic Workplace
How We Learned to Be Citizens in the Office
Book •
Ilana Gershon examines how organizational challenges during COVID-19 forced workers and managers to renegotiate obligations, authority, and risk, turning workplaces into laboratories for democratic practice.
Based on over 200 interviews, she shows how employees grappled with contracts, the authority to tell others what to do, and the balance between individual needs and the common good.
The book explores varying workplace forms—retail, schools, care institutions, and small businesses—and how these shaped decision-making and perceptions of private government.
Gershon draws on political thought and anthropological theory to argue that workplaces are central sites where Americans learn civic skills and political strategies.
The study highlights tensions between apparent participatory processes and opaque management, and considers implications for broader political life.
Based on over 200 interviews, she shows how employees grappled with contracts, the authority to tell others what to do, and the balance between individual needs and the common good.
The book explores varying workplace forms—retail, schools, care institutions, and small businesses—and how these shaped decision-making and perceptions of private government.
Gershon draws on political thought and anthropological theory to argue that workplaces are central sites where Americans learn civic skills and political strategies.
The study highlights tensions between apparent participatory processes and opaque management, and considers implications for broader political life.
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Mentioned by the hosts as the episode's featured book and by the author as her new work about workplaces and democracy during the pandemic.
Ilana Gershon, "The Pandemic Workplace: How We Learned to Be Citizens in the Office" (U Chicago Press, 2024)
