Everyday intercultural (mis)recognition and "how one practises at work"

pp. 199-235

in: Bona Anna, Honneth and everyday intercultural (mis)recognition, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

The two preceding empirical chapters have focused on intercultural (mis)recognition at work regarding ethno-racial identification and in terms of the status of an occupation and its associated tasks. This chapter brings a critical lens to cross-cultural (mis)recognition implicit in "how one practises at work", that is, the way in which workers engage with the concrete tasks as they are framed by the work organisation. Specifically, the analysis focuses on ethno-cultural difference as it shapes activities and practices in multicultural workplaces. It particularly utilises Honneth's premise of contested value horizon, that is, culturally differentiated interpretations of core values, to analyse participant experience as disputed practice, adaptive intervention and recognition struggle regarding best practice in cross-cultural work contexts. Elaborated below, the critical analysis of "how one practices at work" is anchored in a reconstruction of Honneth's three critical conceptions, and thus esteem recognition in relation to the norms of performance, achievement and contribution in the domain of paid employment.