8 Immersion at work Affect and power in post-Fordist work cultures Rainer Mühlhoff and Jan Slaby Introduction This chapter explores some of the ways in which relational affect has been turned into a subtle device for governing individuals, often such that it is not easily discernible how or even that power is exerted over them. It focuses on present-day workplace arrangements in what has been called network corporatism or, more generally, post-Fordism. Yet, its purpose is also an expressly theoretical one, namely that of consolidating a philo- sophical conception of relational affect in the tradition of Spinoza and Deleuze, with particular emphasis on the nexus of affect and power. Therefore, the chapter starts with a section on conceptual foundations in two stages. First, the gist of a Spinozist understanding of affect in relatively general terms. Then a sketch of the working concept of an “affective arrangement” – a descendant of both the Deleuzian “agencement machin- ique” and the Foucauldian “dispositif of power” – as a bridge between a more abstract conceptual framework and a concrete analytical perspective. Equipped with this concept, the chapter then presents two case studies of “immersive” affective arrangements in contemporary white-collar work- places, drawing on research literature in workplace ethnography, soci- ology and cultural studies. The first case concerns teamwork and the seamless blending of networked office work and private life in precarious part-time employment. The second case study deals with what is tellingly called “Life at Google”. It concludes with remarks on the prospects of an immanent critique of contemporary formations of affective subjectivation. Theoretical framework: researching affective relationality The notion of affect The first aim of this approach is to develop a category of affect that is suitable for an analysis of power and subjectivation. For this purpose, the notion of affect in the philosophical tradition from Baruch Spinoza to Gilles Deleuze is particularly useful. This chapter remains neutral on the