HOW TECHNOLOGY OPERATES THE PASSAGE FROM INDIVIDUAL TO COLLECTIVE ACTION: A POSSESSIVE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

We propose that technology stresses the role of possession and property in the study of organizations, as it captures individual action and aggregates it into the collective. We thus offer a richer theorization of property and possession than the legal definition that prevails in organizational studies in general, and in organizational communication in particular, thanks to the sociology of Gabriel Tarde. This new vision will allow us to see, by revisiting recent studies on digital technologies, how they allow the appropriation of action by the organization. We will end by exploring the political implications of technology in terms of the more or less equitable distribution of agency.