Labour Processes in Retail: Intensification, Disciplinary Mechanisms and Resistances [I processi lavorativi nel retail: intensificazione, meccanismi disciplinari e resistenze]

Advanced capitalist societies are increasingly characterized by the tertiarization of the labor market and the expansion of retail. In this essay I present a reflection on the control mechanisms and disciplinary dispositives, on resilience strategies and resistance attempts in the workplace, starting from research conducted with retail workers of two shopping streets in Milan and London. The empirical material has been analyzed through the lens of the Labour Process Theory, integrated with Foucaultian concepts: power, discipline, governamentality. The research reveals a sector characterised by company control and the discipline of work, but also by ambivalent forms of solidarity between employees.