ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how anarchism can be defined as a rejection of hierarchical control of human affairs and discusses how this type of anarchism relates to definitions of management. Faure, a French anarchist quoted in George Woodcock’s Anarchism, was a bit broader when describing who an anarchist is: ‘Whoever denies authority and fights against it is an anarchist.’ Key currents of thought in anarchism’s classical epoch suggest that the state–as an assemblage of institutions which govern us–is unnecessary and even evil. Practical anarchism asserts that expressions of freedom and autonomy in modern life indicate that everyday anarchism already exists. It reframes anarchism around the idea that people’s natural tendency is free association. Postanarchism focuses on the self, arguing that personal resistance to authority and power at a local level is a meaningful anarchist act. Whether classical, practical or post, anarchism promotes autonomy, liberty and a profound opposition to coercion and control.
