Labor and the economy: For an anthropological view

The wage-earning relationship has served as a prism through which the socio logy of labor has traditionally dealt with the economic sphere. As a conseq uence, a dichotomy has cropped up between this sphere (encompassing "hierar chical logics") and the social one (with its informal groups and autonomous means of regulation). By referring to the anthropology of techniques, whic h assigns the same status to both aspects - effort and product, labor and o utput - of work, the question of the relation between these two spheres can be re-explored. Data collected during a case study conducted in a big tele communications firm are used to do this. Forms of the "spontaneous economy" of human activities are discussed by examining how customers (who are incr easingly taken into account) can be characterized by using a "logic" adapte d to the type of activity, Thereafter, attention is focused on the "native discourse" (oft used in managerial circles) about the "economy of economist s". Two stances are identified: distant adherence, which tends to naturaliz e the economy, and "intellectual withdrawal", which tends to see the econom y as a social construction. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales El sevier SAS.