3

...the cyclical intensification of "obsolete" rules constitutes a ritual affirmation of managerial domination. In the day-to-day play of the game of making out, workers exercise considerable control over their own activities; the occasional introduction of rules is designed to remind them, or has the consequence of reminding them, that they are indeed subordinates and that their autonomy is confined within definite limits. It serves, in other words, to discipline the labor force.