Written Communication Apr 2000

Ordering Work: Blue-Collar Literacy and the Political Nature of Genre

DOROTHY A. WINSOR

Abstract

Within complex organizations, people are members of various and sometimes conflicting subgroupings. Texts function between and across these various subgroupings to simultaneously bridge the gap between them (and thus allow joint work to be done) and yet maintain existing structures of power and territory. This study reports observations of blue-collar laboratory technicians using work orders written by engineers. It identifies work orders as a genre that both triggered and concealed the work of the technicians, allowing it to disappear into the work of the engineers. This study has implications for our understanding of the role texts play in coordinating joint work and for our understanding of what it means for texts to be perceived as generic. In particular, it emphasizes the political aspects of genre as form of social action, an aspect previous research and theory have tended to neglect.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2000-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088300017002001
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
genre theory
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Citation Context

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CrossRef global citation count: 48 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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