Therapy on an Exhausted Planet

The last decade of the twentieth century saw a growing awareness of environmental issues and concern about prospects for the continuance of life on our planet. Evidence is strong that the planet's ability to continue sustaining life is under threat. Despite this and despite the urgency of time constraints, the human species, in its vast range of occupations and careers, has scarcely lifted a finger to address the crisis. Therapypists are no different. This article considers the dangerous predicaments we face, explores what restrains Therapypists, and looks to some possible avenues for influence.     

Defining,censuring, and resolving: the EBRD,collective organic intellectuals and the global financial crisis in Eastern Central Europe

ABSTRACT

The paper asks what role the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plays in coordinating policy reform in post-crisis Eastern Central Europe (ECE). How did the EBRD attempt to mitigate the effects of the crisis and what role did the institution play in the configuration of a post-crisis European political economy? The paper analyses the content of the annual EBRD Transition Reports (TR) as representation of thinking in the EBRD Chief Economist’s Office on the salient concerns relevant to its region of operations. The paper analyses TRs from 2007 to 2013 assessing the discursive shifts inside the EBRD establishing (1) how the TRs frame whether the region is in crisis, (2) apportioning censure for causing crisis and (3) how the EBRD TRs delineate the development of appropriate policy responses to the crisis. In conclusion the paper situates these processes as evidence of a further iteration of ‘fail forwards’ neoliberalization.     

Information vetting as a key component in social-mediated crisis communication: An exploratory study to examine the initial conceptualization

In order to understand publics’ crisis information consumption in an increasingly competitive and conflicting media environment, this study addresses how and why individuals vet information (or not) in social-mediated crisis situations. Built upon the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model as well as grounded in the elaboration likelihood model and the meta-cognition theory, this study proposes an initial conceptual framework of crisis information vetting. An exploratory study, including four focus groups and 13 in-depth interviews, was conducted to investigate: 1) indicators of information vetting behavior according to participants’ self-reported experiences; and 2) what motivate and what prohibit participants from engaging themselves emotionally and cognitively in the process of crisis information vetting. Our qualitative data provide evidences for a two-step process of crisis information vetting, namely, primary vetting and secondary vetting. The 14 sub-constructs and 48 vetting behavior indicators rendered may serve in future scale development and further conceptual model refinement of the new crisis information vetting construct. By connecting publics’ crisis information consumption with their crisis information transmission in social-mediated crisis communication, this study also extends and enriches the SMCC model.     

A general moodel of crisis intervention

This article presents a general model of crisis intervention designed to be used in most practice settings. The model is a synthesis of what has previously been written about crisis intervention theory and practice along with the author's own contributions. The various definitions of what constitutes a crisis and the stages of a crisis reaction are discussed. In the beginning phases of crisis treatment it is suggested that the clinician should complete six tasks, one of which is identifying with the client and precipitating event that led to the crisis. As the treatment process continues it is suggested that the clinician should complete six tasks, one of which is designing psychological and behavioral tasks that will reduce stress and help the client resolve the crisis. Finally, the termination process is reviewed.     

Crisis Management by Subjectivation: Toward a Feminist Neo-Gramscian Framework for the Analysis of Europe's Multiple Crisis

The ongoing global crisis not only poses challenges for critical empirical analyses, it also forces us to reconsider central analytical concepts. This paper takes the multiple crisis as a starting point to reconsider notions of (state) power, hegemony, and subjectivation in contemporary crisis management. We discuss recent analyses by feminist and neo-Gramscian scholars, highlight their valuable contributions to a richer understanding of current crisis politics, and argue for their mutual complementarity. Neo-Gramscian perspectives, which productively highlight the current conjuncture's increasing (lack of) hegemonic qualities, need to be confronted with feminist insights regarding the current transformations of gender orders. In combining these approaches, we develop the notion of ‘crisis management by subjectivation’. To illustrate this we refer to the example of Greece: increasingly coercive and authoritarian modes of governance parallel the re-privatization of reproductive work and increasing reliance on gendered division of labor, traditional concepts of privacy, and gendered knowledge of care and the practices associated with it for the reproduction of social cohesion. With the notion of ‘crisis management by subjectivation’ we hence refer to the fact that austerity policies draw on a gendered (re-)allocation and subjective incorporation of social responsibilities as hidden resources of stability and hegemony. The crisis, through its management, is displaced into the gendered subjects themselves.     

‘Where are you from?’: Identifying place1

Many social research projects, such as interviews, focus groups, and surveys, take local place as a given: they choose participants from a particular place, take this place as background for what the participants say, ask them about place‐related issues, and correlate responses with different places. But people can identify places in different ways, in geographical or relational terms, and in different levels of scale. This study analyses passages in focus groups in which participants say where they are from, shows that participants generally take the question and answer as routine, and then shows the ways the interaction develops when this routineness is broken, amended, or called into question. When a participant revises their statement of where they are from, they adapt to what they see as the knowledge and stance of their interlocutor, they re‐present themselves, and they create possibilities for further talk, defending, telling stories, or showing entitlement to an opinion. I argue that the ways people answer this question, interactively, can tell us about them, and us, as well as about their map of the world.     

Crisis response and crisis timing strategies,two sides of the same coin

This study investigates the moderating impact of the timing of crisis disclosure on the effect of crisis response strategies on organizational post-crisis reputation. It proposes that self-disclosing a crisis allows organizations to avoid explicitly taking or rejecting responsibility by means of a crisis response strategy. A 2 (crisis timing strategy: ex-ante vs. ex-post) × 2 (crisis response strategy: response strategy vs. objective information only) between-subjects factorial design was conducted among 137 participants. The results show that organizations that do not steal thunder better use a reputation restoring crisis response strategy than just providing stakeholders objective information about what happened. In addition, the results demonstrate that if an organization steals thunder, it is not necessary to offer reputation restoring crisis response strategies such as an apology. These findings stress the importance of timing to disclose crisis information in addition to the content of crisis communication strategies.     

Understanding the Russian Health Crisis: a Sociological Perspective

This essay applies a sociological perspective to the health crisis in Russia by delving increasingly deeper into the layers of causes. The major characteristic of this crisis is the decline in life expectancy among men and the relative stagnation of longevity among women. The primary cause is increased cardiovascular disease and alcohol-related poisoning and accidents. However, in order to determine the ultimate cause, it is necessary to examine secondary level factors to explain what is responsible for the rise in heart disease and alcohol-based afflictions. Several secondary factors were considered, including infectious disease, poor medical care, environmental pollution, policy, and stress, but the strongest evidence supported negative health lifestyles. The next step is find what is causing a lifestyle harmful to male health in particular and while stress is likely important – the best tertiary level cause is the deeply embedded working-class style of heavy drinking that is normative in Russia.     

The unaccountable risks of LIBOR

One of the on‐going consequences of recent financial crises seems to be that the conventional ‘anchor’ measures of global finance (such as the US dollar, treasury bonds and AAA rated securities) are no longer playing the anchoring role once believed of them. LIBOR now needs to be added to this list and not just because it has been tarnished by illegal practices, but because it is looking increasingly surpassed by financial market practices. LIBOR was believed to provide a risk‐free rate of interest, but has been revealed to be risk‐laden. Moreover, LIBOR is a measure of the costs of borrowing, whilst market concern is increasingly with measures of interest rate volatility. This paper looks at why, in the context of crisis, financial market focus on interest rates is turning towards other benchmarks, notably the overnight indexed swap (OIS) market, and what this shift might be telling us about the anchoring requirements of global financial markets.     

Spiralling Up or Spinning Out: A Guide for Reflecting on Action Research Practice

This paper offers a theoretical ‘action research spiral’ model to guide reflection on the dual client focus of action research. While theoretically exploring and highlighting the tensions and dilemmas created by this dual client focus, this paper will argue for a greater degree of reflection on action research practice and utilize vignettes from action research cases to illustrate those reflective processes. It is concluded that further discussion and reflection on the process of action research is an important component of social science’s contribution to phronetic knowledge.

I saw the University as helping us to reflect on what we are doing—they are the expert reflectors. This is particularly what I saw as X’s role. Sometimes his interjections go above their heads and his ‘nine words or less’ statements need to have some explanation, and I should feed this back to him. I also see the University as playing a visionary role, helping to show us new things about what is possible. I don’t see the University as helping to pull the team together—that is when it gets confusing. They are observing us, they are looking at us as the rats, and when they see something that they think needs to be addressed, they can feed this back to us—and this is where teaching and formal learning comes in. This is a difficult role for the University. I can see some of the University people just squirming—you can see it in their face that they want to intervene. They know something about what we are doing but are not imparting the knowledge. This can piss people off. They are withholding what they know and not helping. But it can also piss people off if they come in too early and tell us what is going on and what to do and not let us wallow around for a while, and learn. This is what I see as a major problem for the University. As you observe us, at what point do you reflect the learning and feedback, and yet not prostitute the learning or dirty the data. …We are the rats, the factory is your laboratory. But when we are looking at the role of the University, you are the rats. (Plant Manager and Industry Sponsor of an Action Research Project, 2000)     

Still the Weakest Link: The Domestic Financial System and post‐1998 Recovery in East Asia

To what extent and within what timeframe did countries in East Asia recover from the 1997‐8 financial crisis, and, if there has been a recovery, can it be sustained? Drawing on the available evidence, this article attempts to answer these questions. By implication, however, it also has something to say about the vulnerability of the region to subsequent crises and briefly considers what needs to be done to reduce this.     

The reconstruction of childhood–implications for theory and practice

First, the article deals with selected aspects of change that have framed the lives of contemporary families and children in Scandinavia: urbanization; secularization and norm-pluralism; changes in work-conditions; ideologies about the role of mothers; structural changes in family patterns; and the modern professionalization of care. Second, how change induces a crisis in the grand developmental approach within child psychology is investigated. It is argued that any a priori universal and non-contextual derived type of knowledge about development fails to grasp what is going on within families and in care and socialization in rapidly changing cultures such as Scandinavia and other Western European countries. An alternative paradigm is presented that should make us better able to understand development as embedded in culture and time. Third, some new challenges for educating the skilled practitioner are focused upon. Here reflective competence will be addressed: expertise as an ‘eternal process of inquiry; the ability to use multi-based and often conflicting knowledge about families and children in order to solve problems in everyday situations; the strengthened emphasis on the practitioner-as-person and the ability to use practical and reflected knowledge in different contexts. Finally, new bases of scientific knowledge are suggested for use in the future education of practitioners.     

Media,migrants and human rights in the cultural history. Dialogue with Lynn Hunt

Lynn Hunt is an American historian and writer; she is Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California in Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.), and before coming to U.C.L.A., she taught at the University of Pennsylvania (1987–1998) and at the University of California, Berkeley (1974–1987). She is known for her studies in European Cultural History, and in 2007 she published the book Inventing Human Rights, where she examines the rise of the human rights in the eighteenth century.

We are specifically interested in her work because it gives us the chance to create a dialogue and disclose the moment we are living in comparing it with the cultural history and the role the media can have during a humanitarian crisis.

Therefore, we ask Lynn Hunt to explain how the exodus of migrants can be interpreted in light of the meta-narrative model, and to make clear what is and what will be the role of the cultural historians in offering us an interpretation of this historical moment. According to what the writer says in Writing History in the Global Era (2014), Hunt also deals with the importance of the relationship between means of communication, development of empathy and the emergence of human rights. For this reason, we asked the researcher, What is the role of the media today in mapping a humanitarian crisis?     

Empathy as a main ingredient of impactful crisis communication: The perspectives of crisis communication practitioners

Sixteen in-depth interviews with Belgian crisis communication practitioners were conducted to get their perspectives on the role of empathy in crisis communication. While demonstrating empathy toward crisis-affected stakeholders is considered an essential best practice, the role of empathy in responding to crises has only received limited attention in research. The aims of this study were to examine how practitioners interpret the concept of empathy in crisis communication; to what extent they value the expression of empathy in crisis responses and for what reasons; and what exactly constitutes an empathetic crisis response according to them. In addition, instances in which stakeholders may in turn experience empathy for organizations in crisis were examined. As such, the aspiration behind this study was to provide insights that can initiate further theorization and research on the role of empathy in the context of organizational crisis communication.     

The parallel power in organizations’ defense: Exploring faith-holders and their crisis communication

Publics can be active participants of discussions around organizational crises. Through digital media, they can provide information about a crisis, criticize crisis participants or defend the organization experiencing the crisis (Coombs & Holladay, 2014). Limited research exists on the active role of publics in defending the organization. A handful of studies have looked at crisis communication of active organization supporters, including faith-holders (Luoma-aho, 2015); however there is a limited amount of public relations scholarship about the nature of faith-holders, their communication under crisis circumstances, and whether they in fact attempt to help organizations in times of crisis. By using a combination of content analysis and rhetorical analysis, this paper examined the crisis communication strategies offered by the organization’s faith-holders in the comments to the crisis-related articles published on the websites of media outlets. Through a case study of Tesla Motors’ crisis, the paper determined that faith-holders are a powerful force in defending the organization during the crisis, using both traditional reputation repair strategies identified by Coombs (2015) as well as new strategies identified by the study. Faith-holders were not a monolithic group and differed in terms of what aspects of the organization they had faith. Their communication was not restricted by legal and ethical demands. The results provide insights into understanding of faith-holders’ communication during crises, and also highlight the need for reconsidering the situational crisis communication theory in respect to organizations' faith-holders.     

Labour is not a commodity: The content and meaning of work in the twenty‐first century

In his valedictory lecture before the Collège de France, Alain Supiot reviews his work on the transformation of labour in the twenty‐first century, highlighting the role of law and institutions in addressing the consequences of the digital revolution and environmental crisis. In his view, the moral, social and environmental bankruptcy of neoliberalism calls for us to reconsider the legal fiction of labour as a commodity and to re‐establish the truly “humane labour regime” envisaged by the preamble to the ILO Constitution, recognizing both the meaning and content of work. He uses the case of scientific research to illustrate his argument.     

Neo-Materialist Ecologies and Global Systemic Crises

Liberal international relations theory largely rests on the assumption that the contemporary international liberal order is robust enough to withstand crises of political authority and/or economic slumps. Yet, this raises a central question: what is a crisis in the deep principles of a global political and economic order? In this essay, I seek to rethink crisis theory in light of prevailing assumptions about the longevity of the contemporary liberal international order. I examine how catalysts of crises can be the effects of non-human actors that intensify or crystalize moments of instability. From global ecological feedback loops, to high-frequency trading and automated factories, the processes of production and distribution increasingly reflect global networks that transcend day-to-day human decisions. Rethinking systemic crisis necessitates understanding the ways in which non-human actants constitute and destabilize larger political assemblages.     

Towards a Structural-Environmental Model of Risk for HIV and Problem Drinking in Latino Labor Migrants: The Case of Day Laborers

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to describe a researchable conceptual model of structural-environmental (SE) risk for HIV and problem drinking in Latino labor migrants (LLMs) in the United States, with an emphasis on day laborers. Implications for developing SE prevention interventions that target risky situations, embedded in stressful living and working conditions, and not simply risky behaviors are discussed. Presently, most HIV and alcohol-related research on LLMs in the U.S. has focused almost exclusively on assessing and modifying behavioral risk, which, while important, teaches us very little about the broader environmental context of risk in this unique population of Latinos. Literature is reviewed regarding what is known about risk for HIV and problem drinking, as well as contextual factors in LLMs in general and day laborers in particular, as a prelude to describing a SE risk model and basic research methods necessary for its exploration and development. Foundational SE risk frameworks in the HIV/AIDS literature are discussed as well as examples of SE prevention interventions that enhance environmental resources and activities and hence coping with risky situations at the individual level.     

After Atos Healthcare: is the Employment and Support Allowance fit for purpose and does the Work Capability Assessment have a future?

In June 2014 the BBC reported that it had seen a number of UK Department for Work and Pensions documents relating to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). These documents, which included six memos written by civil servants and government advisers, tell us very little that we did not know already; namely that the ESA is in crisis, and that waiting lists for assessment and appeals are unacceptable. However, what is significant is that these concerns are being raised within the Department for Work and Pensions itself. The underlying drift is that the question of whether the current model of ESA and Work Capability Assessment is sustainable is now firmly on the UK government’s radar.     

Cyclical Evolution of the Global Right

An understanding of the current right‐wing national and transnational social movements can benefit from comparing them to the global and national conditions operating during their last appearance in the first half of the twentieth century and by carefully comparing twentieth‐century fascism with the neofascist and right‐wing populist movements that have been emerging in the twenty‐first century. This allows us to assess the similarities and differences, and to gain insights about what could be the consequences of the reemergence of populist nationalism and fascist movements. Our study uses the comparative evolutionary world‐systems perspective to study the Global Right from 1800 to the present. We see fascism as a form of capitalism that emerges when the capitalist project is in crisis. World historical waves of right‐wing populism and fascism are caused by the cycles of globalization and deglobalization, the rise and fall of hegemonic core powers, long business cycles (the Kondratieff wave), and interactions with both Centrist Liberalism and the Global Left. We consider how crises of the global capitalist system have produced right‐wing backlashes in the past, and how a future terminal crisis of capitalism could lead to a reemergence of a new form of authoritarian global governance or a reorganized global democracy in the future.