Page 191 - Mediterranea-ricerche storiche, n. 48, aprile 2020flip

To contain and control: work organization and poor government in the... 191

Differently from coeval cases, as private manufacturers or
workshops, the accountability of work is not focused on the quantity
of produced items but rather on the time worked. Productivity of work
or quantity produced is a typical profit-oriented measurement. The
governmentality frame could explain how the accounting of workers is
a specific tool to control people and their space of movement
independently from the discourse of the institution .
51
The workers were differentiated by role in order to implement
control over a single production stage that represented a specific space
and time within the factory . Furthermore, the work was organised
52
on the basis of a few statements that regulated the basic functions of
hospice and its inmates, as reported by the following table 10.

Table 10. Synopsis of Real Opificio delle Sete regulations (1790)
Type of rule Brief description of rule
Social Every hosted orphan is subject to the rector of Real
Albergo dei Poveri
Social Every hosted orphan girl must go out only in
company with a next of kin well known to the
superintendent
Social Must pray together every evening
Social Must attend a service every Sunday and holidays
Social Must confess every first Sunday of the month
Industrial The work of the silk factory is organised by the
factory manager
Industrial All warehouses and production plants will be closed
from 4.00 am to dawn
Industrial The factory manager will reward the best worker
Source: Asp, Rsi, f. 5271.

The regulations were especially directed on everyday life of the
inmates of the Real Albergo, still considering religion and spirituality
to control their social behaviour. On the other hand, tight control on
the external life was conducted by means of the limited possibilities of

51 J.B. Baños Sánchez-Matamoros, F. Gutiérrez, E.C. Álvarez-Dardet, F.F. Carrasco,
Govern(mentality) and Accounting: The Influence of Different Enlightenment Discourses in
Two Spanish Cases (1761–1777), «Abacus», vol. 41, n. 2, 2005, pp. 181-210.
52 R. Rossi, Poor government and work organisation in the Real Albergo dei poveri of
Palermo cit., p. 61.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVII - Aprile 2020
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)