Sketches of resistance

Abstract

In this article, the question of resistance is discussed based on it’s polysemic, plural and ambiguous dimension. Indeed, it may lead to inventiveness or creativity, as well as to the conservation and conformism. Sometimes it can even go to both directions. These trends are evoked through their macro and micro-social aspects. On the ground of work organizations, the resistance can be characterized by small, invisible or enigmatic events, when it refers either to reactions of transformation or conservation of the work reality. This text discusses three cases extracted from narratives of workers pain from really unendurable working conditions. Those cases present unexpected behaviors whose interpretation is difficult because they are equally ambiguous and not easily assimilated to the notion of resistance.