ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the theoretical framework for studying the deployment of Lean in welfare service practices, and the methods adopted in the book. Taken together, the two parts of this chapter establish the theoretical and methodological basis for studying Lean. The theories of affects, biocapitalism, gender, sociomateriality, situated knowledges, and translations are introduced in the first part of the chapter. In the second part, we discuss how the theories were employed while conducting field, that is, (affective) ethnography and interviews. Furthermore, the second part of the chapter introduces how everyday materialities and affects encountered by welfare service workers, Lean consultants, and researchers alike were invited, evoked, and analysed during the research process. In the chapter, we tie together the theories to make sense of how Lean operates as the multifaceted glocal phenomenon that is transforming (predominantly female) welfare service work as well as reflect our own position as critical social scientists.
