Understanding microfascism: reading Deleuze and Guattari alongside management guru texts

ABSTRACT

The ‘management guru’ text has long been a source of interest for academic audiences. In this tradition, this paper argues that the content and underpinning ideology of the guru guide hold important insights for organizational scholars interested in the works of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (and vice versa). Specifically, this paper will demonstrate that a close reading of entrepreneur and guru, Tim Ferriss’s, Tools of Titans, can provide meaningful exegesis and development of the concept of ‘microfascism’ presented by Deleuze and Guattari across their shared and independent corpuses. Building upon extant organization studies literature, this paper will endeavour to contribute to the commentary on the management guru by suggesting that the desire for fascism, power, conformity, and rule-following of which Deleuze and Guattari speak offers a productive way of understanding the success of the management guru and the broader allure of the management advice industry.     

Verbal behavior and the history of linguistics

A recent paper by a historian of linguistics suggests that after many years of neglect linquists are finding value in the analysis of verbal behavior developed by B.F. Skinner.

     

Psychological Needs and Values Underlying Left-Right Political Orientation: Cross-National Evidence from Eastern and Western Europe

According to previous research conducted mainly in the UnitedStates, psychological needs pertaining to the management ofuncertainty and threat predict right-wing conservatism, operationallydefined in terms of resistance to change and acceptance of inequality.In this study, we analyze data from 19 countries included inthe European Social Survey (ESS) to assess two sets of hypotheses:(1) that traditionalism (an aspect of resistance to change)and acceptance of inequality would be positively associatedwith right (versus left) orientation, and (2) that rule-following(an aspect of the need for order), high need for security, andlow need for openness to experience would be associated withright (versus left) orientation, adjusting for quadratic effectsassociated with ideological extremity. In addition, we determinethe extent to which the pattern of relations among needs, values,and political orientation was similar in Eastern and WesternEuropean contexts. Results from regression and structural equationmodels indicate that traditionalism and, to a lesser extent,rule-following predict right-wing conservatism in both regions,whereas acceptance of inequality predicts right-wing orientationin the West only. Although openness to experience was associatedwith preferences for greater equality in both regions, it wasassociated with left-wing orientation in Western Europe andright-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Needs for security,conversely, were associated with right-wing orientation in WesternEurope and left-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Thus, wefind evidence of both universal and context-specific effectsin our analysis of the cognitive and motivational antecedentsof left-right political orientation.     

Establishing verbal repertoires: Toward the application of general case analysis and programming

A great deal of clinical and experimental work in past decades has focused on establishing functional verbal repertoires that are used across various settings and situations by persons with moderate and severe disabilities. Such work has not always involved a careful analysis and programming approach for structuring training to achieve the desired range of stimulus control relationships. General case analysis and programming procedures, which are based on behavior analytic and Direct Instruction principles and techniques, have proven effective in recent years for teaching a variety of community-based skills to learners with moderate and severe disabilities. This paper outlines the general case process and discusses its application to establish verbal repertoires.

     

Dysfunctional control by client verbal behavior: The context of reason-giving

Dysfunctional control exerted by reason-giving in adult psychopathology is interpreted from a radical behavioral perspective. Verbal-social contingencies which support the establishment of reason-giving and its control over maladaptive actions are reviewed. A contextual approach to psychotherapy, comprehensive distancing, which attempts to weaken dysfunctional verbal control is described briefly. Data relevant to therapeutic process are presented. The overall results suggest that comprehensive distancing facilitates therapeutic change through a process consistent with a behavioral analysis of reason-giving. Suggestions for further research and radical behavioral approaches to psychotherapy are discussed.

     

Social Development and Minimum Standards in Social Work Education in South Africa

This paper evaluates how well South African minimum standards for social work education, known as Exit Level Outcomes, are aligned to a social development paradigm. Developmental social work is a relatively new approach in social work education internationally, and this article can therefore provide lessons for other countries using this paradigm in an education model based on national minimum standards.

The complexities and difficulties of using a minimum standards approach in education are discussed and the policy context for the development of these standards in South Africa is explained. The use of a social development framework for the analysis is motivated in relation to its relevance to the social context. Nine criteria for a social development perspective were drawn from the literature to form an analytical framework. A content analysis using this framework was done on the minimum standards.

The results show that the minimum standards are generally aligned with social development principles that drive national priorities, but a few significant gaps exist, which are outlined and discussed. This article attempts to grapple with the complexities of using these minimum standards to drive both curricula related and extra curricula activities in social work education in South Africa     

Older age and a higher EHRA score allow higher levels of frailty syndrome to be predicted in patients with atrial fibrillation

Background: There is no research that evaluates the relationship between the severity of the symptoms of atrial fibrillation (AF), the presence of frailty syndrome and acceptance of the illness.

Methods: The study included 132 patients aged 72.7?±?6.73 with diagnosed AF. The severity of the symptoms of AF was determined according to European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) guidelines, frailty syndrome was assessed using the Tilburg frailty indicator (TFI) and the acceptance of the illness was assessed using the acceptance of illness scale (AIS). A standard statistical comparison and multiple regression analysis using the stepwise method were performed.

Results: In patients with AF, frailty was 5.31?±?2.69 (TFI). Frailty syndrome was diagnosed in 59.8% of the AF patients who had a score of 7.17?±?1.72. A higher level of EHRA score was connected with a smaller degree of the acceptance of the illness p?=?0.0000. The multiple regression model indicated that age (p?=?0.0009) and the severity of the symptoms (p?=?0.0001) are important predictors of frailty syndrome.

Conclusions: There is a relationship between the presence of frailty syndrome and the intensity of the symptoms and the acceptance of AF. Age and the EHRA score permitted higher levels of frailty syndrome to be predicted.     

Proposing an Initiative Research Methodology for LGBTQ+ Youth: Photo-Elicitation and Thematic Analysis

ABSTRACT

A framework for approaching lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ (LGBTQ+) youth is presented that honors their voice. This methodology utilizes participant-driven photo elicitation as a qualitative data collection method, and then integrates thematic analysis. A brief review of current literature is provided to outline gaps, which establish the need to expand effective research methods with LGBTQ+ youth. Photo elicitation is explained with discussion specific to use with LGBTQ+ youth. Thematic analysis is identified and explained as an analytic approach. Challenges of implementing this methodology are discussed with attention to ethical concerns.     

Practice Learning and the Development of Professional Practice

The development of professional practice is based on practice learning, yet there is no consensus about its definition. The currently evolving use of the term ‘practice learning’ provides us with an opportunity to consider the nature of learning for professional practice at initial entry through to post qualifying stages of development. A number of streams of thought are influencing the understanding of practice learning and we aim to consider some of these and how they inform those involved in supporting and guiding practice learners at different stages of their professional development.

In presenting our conceptualisation of practice learning we argue against oversimplified dualities of classroom‐based academic learning concerned with theory and workplace‐based practice learning concerned with practice. Additionally we make explicit the career‐long nature of practice learning which is as embedded in continuing professional development as it is in the requirements for qualifying programmes.

Having established what we mean by ‘practice learning’ we consider the impact of organisational learning theory on the management of practice learning. The consideration of the characteristics of organisations which learn leads to a brief examination of approaches to teaching and learning which promote knowledge creation in a way which is meaningful to practitioners. We will argue that the development of understandings of organisational learning and knowledge creation should become part of the knowledge base for those supporting and guiding practice learners, in addition to the traditional knowledge base of adult learning theory.

Before exploring the nature of practice learning it would be helpful to consider briefly what we mean by professional practice for which practice learning is preparing people.

Professional practice in social work is a complex set of activities which involve direct work with service users, and their families, as well as work with other professionals and agencies. A range of knowledge and skills are used with a firm value base which recognises diversity and oppression as key elements in UK society.

Such professional practice is learned and developed in a range of ways over time through training, practice, understanding, analysis and reflection. However, the nature of just what practice learning is and where it occurs has become a focus of debate in the UK as a result of recent developments in initial professional education and training for social work.     

Go to Jail,Pay $200: Child Support Obligations of Incarcerated Parents

ABSTRACT

Non-collection of child support disproportionately affects poor women. To address this problem non-custodial incarcerated parents are a potential source of child support payments. It is calculated that 37, 820 custodial parents are owed approximately $122 million in child support by people in prison. A policy and legal analysis elucidates this issue.     

Enablers and barriers affecting medication-taking behaviour in aging men with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract

Objectives: To identify the enablers and barriers affecting medication-taking behaviour in aging men with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Methods: A total of 40 patients attending the urology outpatient clinic in Melbourne in 2012 were screened. Patients who successfully met the inclusion criteria were interviewed using a structured interview schedule. Information regarding the patient’s medication, demographic data and presence of co-morbidities was collected. Content analysis was compared with patient demographic and medical data, contributing to the analysis.

Results: Problems with medication-taking were reported in 58% of patients. All patients without co-morbidities reported issues regarding their medications, whereas only 27% of patients with co-morbidities reported concerns regarding their medications. Statistical analysis revealed that patients without co-morbidities were significantly more likely (p?=?0.002) to have complaints with their medications compared to those with co-morbidities. Furthermore, patients with co-morbidities who required help of caregivers to assist with their medication-taking were significantly less likely (p?=?0.05) to have complaints with their medications compared to patients who self-managed.

Conclusions: Older patients with caregivers who assisted managing their medication-taking had better adherence. Those receiving aid from their caregivers were significantly less likely to have complaints regarding their medications as opposed to those not requiring a caregiver. This highlights the importance of having support for medication-taking in patients with co-morbidities to assist with better adherence.     

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

A homogeneous effects logistic regression technique for ordinal response dependent variables is employed to test the relationships between religiosity and several forms of delinquent behavior. This technique permits a test of the Hellfire hypothesis originally argued by Hirschi and Stark (1969). The data for this analysis are based on self‐reports from a sample of 3,065 male and female adolescents in grades seven through twelve in three Midwestern states. Strong support for the hypothesis is observed.     

Investigation of a typology of life and death among hospice workers

A typology of life and death was investigated in relation to demographic characteristics, social comparisons, work orientation, and depressive symptoms among 240 hospice workers who replied to a mail questionnaire. Even though conceptions of life and death are part of the same life cycle, they have often been studied separately among those who work with the dying. There was evidence for the usefulness of the typology in the study of indicators of quality of life. A discriminant analysis indicated that four types (positivists, temporal optimists, resigned futurists, and negativists) were differentiated by social‐psychological and demographic characteristics. Implications for application are suggested.     

Computer software and qualitative analysis: Trends,issues and resources

Developments during the 1990s in the use of computer software for qualitative data analysis are surveyed. Salient trends are identified as are wider issues associated with software use. Also listed are some of the resources now available to potential and actual users of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).     

Infant-led Research: Privileging Space to See,Hear, and Consider the Subjective Experience of the Infant

ABSTRACT

The subjective experience of infants is seldom considered in research directly concerning them. Commonly, infants are not believed to possess self-agency or innate communicative abilities, obscuring space for researchers to consider the infant’s subjectivity. Rather, measuring and coding behaviour or seeking the parent’s perspective is privileged. Making meaning is not limited to the capacity to verbalise; as meaning encompasses feelings, behaviours, and contexts. In this paper, a novel “infant-led” qualitative research methodology is presented utilising infant observation techniques, drawing on theories of “intersubjectivity” and using a constructivist grounded theory method. Distinct to this methodology is how data collection begins with the infant before any other, as does the process of data analysis; providing the basis upon which all other data are interpreted. The application of such an approach is nonintrusive and has much to offer social workers working with infants in high risk situations in community, health, and mental health settings.

IMPLICATIONS

• The experience of infants is entitled to be included in research that directly impacts them.

• Adopting an infant-led approach brings alive the experiences of infants and challenges assumptions that minimise the competencies and contributions infants make.

     

Impact of metabolic syndrome and its components on kidney stone in aging Taiwanese males

Objectives: Metabolic syndrome (MtS) and kidney stone are two common aging diseases with male dominant. This is the first study regarding the potential impact of MtS and its components on kidney stone in aging Chinese population.

Methods: A total of 694 males with a mean age of 55.6 years were enrolled. The definition of MtS was according to the modified criteria developed by the Bureau of Health Promotion in Taiwan. Subjects were classified as having a disease of kidney stones according to diagnosis by a physician with available medical records or evidence from ultrasonography judged by an investigator of urologist.

Results: Using age-adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis, our results showed that subjects with kidney stone had significantly higher prevalence of MtS (p?=?0.04, OR?=?1.74, 95% CI: 1.0 1–3.00). The presence of MtS had significant correlation with kidney stone (p?=?0.01, OR?=?1.83, 95% CI: 1.1 4–2.93), which were associated with the increment of MtS components (p?p?Conclusions: In aging Taiwanese males, the presence of MtS and its components are strongly associated with kidney stone. Abnormal BP is the most significant risk component of MtS for kidney stone.     

Addition and Subtraction

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces the use of cost-benefit analysis as a teaching tool for addressing diversity content within social policy courses and advocacy work. Two case examples, the Rockefeller drug laws and the Permanent Partners Immigration Act, are provided to illustrate the methodology. Teaching strategies that utilize cost-benefit analysis to develop student understanding of current policies affecting diverse populations and its usefulness as an advocacy strategy are introduced. In addition, the potential for cost-benefit analysis to foster greater understanding of whose voices seem to be heard in social policy development and whose appear to be silent is discussed.     

Abuse of trust

Abstract

Following a summary of proposed changes to Community Care in the United Kingdom, this paper focuses on case management as a key component of social work skill. Associations between marketplace interaction and the relationship between caseness and care are followed by an analysis of issues and psychological defenses to which case management is liable. These are addressed at the interpersonal level and in terms of boundaries between organizational systems. A hypothesis is proposed that case management is particularly susceptible to conflicts around issues of dependence, independence and interdependence. Finally, initial suggestions are made regarding the role that a psychodynamic understanding can play in addressing these problems.     

The impact of irritative lower urinary tract symptoms on erectile dysfunction in aging Taiwanese males

Objective.?This study assessed the possible associations between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and erectile dysfunction (ED) in aging Taiwanese males and investigated the impact of various aspects of LUTS on ED.

Methods.?A free health screening for aging males (≥40 years old) was conducted in Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital. All the subjects had completed clinical data and answered questionnaires. ED and LUTS were assessed by validated symptom scales: the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) and the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS).

Results.?A total of 339 eligible patients enrolled in this study with a mean age of 60.1 years old. In multiple logistic regression analysis, age and IPSS (p?<?0.001 and p?=?0.013, respectively) were significantly associated with ED after controlling other comorbidities. In a further age-adjusted multiple regression analysis, our results showed that irritative symptoms (p?=?0.042) have a more significant association with ED than the obstructive symptoms (p?=?0.101).

Conclusions.?Our results indicate that age and LUTS are the two most independent risk factors for ED. Aging Taiwanese males with LUTS are at increasing risk for ED, especially for those with significant irritative symptoms.