The employee in the sign of love

Abstract

In this article we explore the language of passion, which has evolved to be a significant element in the descriptions of late modern job life. Niklas Luhman’s theory of social communication systems frames the analysis. It allows us to make a clear distinction between semantics and systems and enables us to track the empirical developments in semantics and reflect upon their communicative consequences. The article is divided into three parts. Part one is a semantic analysis of the past 25 years of human resource management (HRM) discourse in the Danish public sector, where we note the development from a bureaucratic description of the work relation towards a passionate one. Part two employs Luhmann’s theory of symbolically generalized media in order to systematize the development of semantics. Step by step, we examine whether the characteristics of communication in the code of love can be recognized in actual HRM semantics and, if so, in which form. The third part of the article explores the reasons why public organizations have opened themselves up, first, to the HRM discourse and, second, to a codification of love. We contend that it is due to a significant shift in the temporality of public organizations, where the new ideal of change‐driven organizations promotes a logic of enthusiasm and capacity for change that is not reconcilable with legal and bureaucratic coding. The article finally discusses some of the consequences, among which we especially point to the privatization of organizational inclusion and exclusion accompanying the semantic turn towards passion.