We are a multidisciplinary group of researchers and educators at Royal Holloway.

Professor Elena Giovannoni, Centre Director

The Centre for Critical and Historical Research on Organisation and Society (CHRONOS) actively provides an interdisciplinary, international and inclusive forum to discuss and develop the plurality of ways in which ‘critical’ and ‘historical’ research into organizations, markets and society can be conducted.

The guiding belief of critical research is that it should uncover the social and cultural dimensions and implications of any subject matter, interrogating and questioning mainstream approaches and practices as a way to make a positive difference for organisations, markets and society. This, in turn, needs to be grounded in an in-depth awareness of the origin, historical heritage and evolution of social phenomena, using historical perspectives as a way to delve into present and future trajectories of organisation and society. In this way ‘critical and historical’ research prompts social and cultural awareness and wise judgement among policymakers, organisational leaders and employees while informing public debate within broader society. What is therefore excluded is research concerned with purely technical, asocial and/or a-historical approaches to organisation and management.

Our strengths and key research areas

• Interdisciplinary perspectives on space and time within and across organisations, researching the material, spatial, visual, and temporal/historical nature of organisation and organising phenomena
• Research into identity and working life, as a way to reconceptualise differences, categories and divisions, and provide fundamental critique of work / life balance
• Research into critical consumption and politics of markets, including, studies on consumer activism; geopolitics; marketplace cultures; socio-historic patterning’s of consumption; classed resistance; business-politics relations; justice, law and markets
• Research into accountability and control in diverse settings (global market, corporations, NGOs, charities, arts organisations and creative industries, education, etc).
• Silent Voices: Feminist and Subaltern Perspectives

We hold regular seminar series and other events. Take a look here.

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