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

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.

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