FIGURATIONS AND SLEEP PATTERNS ACCOUNTS FROM THE LIFE OF NIGHT TIME WORKERS Cover Image

FIGURATIONS AND SLEEP PATTERNS ACCOUNTS FROM THE LIFE OF NIGHT TIME WORKERS
FIGURATIONS AND SLEEP PATTERNS ACCOUNTS FROM THE LIFE OF NIGHT TIME WORKERS

Author(s): Ramona Marinache
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Editura Pro Universitaria
Keywords: Norbert Elias; figuration; night time work; sleep.

Summary/Abstract: In the last decades “figuration” became a central theme in some scholarly groups who are advocating even for a figurational sociology. The aim of the article is to outline Norbert Elias’s (1939/2002) concept of figuration and to discuss how this might apply in the case of the night time workers of a call centre from Bucharest. The present paper reflects on Elias’s (1939/2002) concept of figuration and applies it by rereading the data gathered for a previous research. It was a qualitative study on transformations of sleep patterns of those working in a call centre. Rereading the data, I argue that there are three major figurations which appear to clash among those who sleep during the day and work during the night. These figurations are: (1) family and friends that work only during the day; (2) friend and strangers that have a similar work pattern and (3) the largest figuration - society.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 02
  • Page Range: 73-81
  • Page Count: 9
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