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The lion and fox animal spirits of Machiavelli and Pareto: a framework for studying organisational micro-politics

The lion and fox animal spirits of Machiavelli and Pareto: a framework for studying organisational micro-politics
The lion and fox animal spirits of Machiavelli and Pareto: a framework for studying organisational micro-politics
In seeking a nuanced grasp of affective “animal spirits” that shape micro-political management behaviours viscerally, while locating their emergence within broad sociocultural contexts, the present paper draws on the “lion” and “fox” animal spirits, whose inspiration for Pareto’s psychologistic sociological project we clarify from Chapter XVIII of Machiavelli’s The Prince. Our corresponding managerial ideal-types are initially explored for their heuristic allegorical potential, considering also how particular organisational risk conditions may inculcate and challenge them. These contextualised psycho-affective tendencies are then refined and grounded within recent behavioural-psychology research, through which their suitability for various socio-organisational risk contexts is further elaborated. The resulting framework, connecting emotional dispositions of leaders to longer term contexts, is held up as viable for focusing academic management and organisational research towards practice-related interventions, while also highlighting the Machiavellian-Paretian realist tradition as a source of living theory for social science.
animal spirits, conservatism, authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, Micro-political conflict, psychopathy, narcissism, Vilfredo Pareto
13-41
Marshall, Alasdair
93aa95a2-c707-4807-8eaa-1de3b994b616
Brown, Patrick
1b4ba987-98e5-4bc9-ae94-70650ff721dd
Ojiako, Udechukwu
83208dbf-faa6-403a-9c4c-84a794b4fea9
Marshall, Alasdair
93aa95a2-c707-4807-8eaa-1de3b994b616
Brown, Patrick
1b4ba987-98e5-4bc9-ae94-70650ff721dd
Ojiako, Udechukwu
83208dbf-faa6-403a-9c4c-84a794b4fea9

Marshall, Alasdair, Brown, Patrick and Ojiako, Udechukwu (2020) The lion and fox animal spirits of Machiavelli and Pareto: a framework for studying organisational micro-politics. Revue Europeenne des Sciences Sociales, 58 (1), 13-41, [1]. (doi:10.4000/ress.6226).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In seeking a nuanced grasp of affective “animal spirits” that shape micro-political management behaviours viscerally, while locating their emergence within broad sociocultural contexts, the present paper draws on the “lion” and “fox” animal spirits, whose inspiration for Pareto’s psychologistic sociological project we clarify from Chapter XVIII of Machiavelli’s The Prince. Our corresponding managerial ideal-types are initially explored for their heuristic allegorical potential, considering also how particular organisational risk conditions may inculcate and challenge them. These contextualised psycho-affective tendencies are then refined and grounded within recent behavioural-psychology research, through which their suitability for various socio-organisational risk contexts is further elaborated. The resulting framework, connecting emotional dispositions of leaders to longer term contexts, is held up as viable for focusing academic management and organisational research towards practice-related interventions, while also highlighting the Machiavellian-Paretian realist tradition as a source of living theory for social science.

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animal spirits final paper - March 2020 - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 March 2020
Published date: 30 June 2020
Keywords: animal spirits, conservatism, authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, Micro-political conflict, psychopathy, narcissism, Vilfredo Pareto

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Local EPrints ID: 442269
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/442269
PURE UUID: e639f358-4b86-4b3f-9217-3e6d757d6228
ORCID for Alasdair Marshall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9789-8042

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Date deposited: 10 Jul 2020 16:31
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 04:21

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Author: Patrick Brown
Author: Udechukwu Ojiako

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