ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses communication and organizational power and resistance through a critical lens. Critical research views organizations as sites of conflict, both apparent and hidden. Critical studies question how certain meanings become dominant in the organizing process and whose interests are served by those symbolic constructions. The chapter describes how scholars have theorized the role of communication in constituting, reinforcing, and resisting relationships of power from multiple critical perspectives, including neo-Marxist, feminist, and postcolonial. The chapter also considers the implications for our understanding of organizations/organizing. We follow this with a description of some major areas of research investigating power and politics, including organizational culture, occupational health and workplace wellness, and corporate social responsibility.
