This essay approaches the themes of coercion and control, extensively treated in the field of critical management studies, putting emphasis on the physical environment. However it is done in an alternative route: it takes the historical evolution of the physical space of the theater as a source for analogies in order to analyze the physical environment of work. The Greek amphitheater, the theater from Rome, the Middle Ages' stage and the Italian stage are analyzed. An additional phase analyzed is the movie theater. The objective is to argue that in the physical space the individual's look is controlled in a pedagogy way in order to achieve political, economic and cultural purposes. It happens by using either direct and coercive methods of control as well as more subtle normative methods.
Critical management studies; control and coercion; physical environment; pedagogy of the look