‘Why Were You Drawn to Each Other?’— Some Implications of the Couple Bond for Couple Therapy

Some themes in couple therapy are explored by introducing a case study of a couple in distress. The question, ‘Why were you drawn to each other?’ helps to unravel the relationship story, its dynamics and difficulties. Attachment theory as developed by John Bowlby is propounded as a useful model in understanding couple relationships. The importance of exploring family-of-origin attachments is reiterated, as well as helping each spouse to change in themselves rather than to blame their partner for their difficulties, with the ultimate aim being the enhancement of the relationship.     

Public Sector Reform and Women's Work in Poland: ‘Working for Juice,Coffee and Cheap Cosmetics!’

The debate on the transformation of work in east central Europe has concentrated on the restructuring of employment in manufacturing to the detriment of any discussion of the transformation of work in the service and public sectors, where the majority of women are employed. Moreover, while it is frequently recognized that women have been hit hard by job loss and unemployment, less attention has been paid the changing experiences of women in work. This article looks at the profound impact of market‐driven reforms in the Polish health and education sectors implemented in the late 1990s, and considers their implications for women and their work. It reports on interviews with a cross‐section of women workers in schools and hospitals and with trade union leaders at both the national and branch level. The impacts of the reforms and the experiences of women workers are discussed through the themes of changing employment levels, the restructuring of working conditions, job security, wages, training, and the double burden of balancing domestic and work lives. The general findings are that although the impact has been highly uneven between workplaces and regions, in general women have experienced an intensification of work and deteriorating working conditions. Their personal lives are not only more stressful due to the pressure at work, but also the double burden of paid and domestic work has increased due to the marketization of public provision. In both sectors, the response to reform has been widespread and militant industrial action, which has gained considerable political attention. We therefore also focus on how women have contested change, both passively and actively, through trade unionism and other political practice.     

‘I Can't Put a Smiley Face On’: Working‐Class Masculinity,Emotional Labour and Service Work in the ‘New Economy’

The growth of the ‘service economy’ has coincided with the large‐scale detachment from the labour market of low‐skilled men. Yet little research has explored exactly what it is about service work that is leading such men to drop out of the labour market during periods of sustained service sector employment growth. Based on interviews with 35 unemployed low‐skilled men, this article explores the men's attitudes to entry‐level service work and suggests that such work requires skills, dispositions and demeanours that are antithetical to the masculine working‐class habitus. This antipathy is manifest in a reluctance to engage in emotional labour and appear deferential in the service encounter and in the rejection of many forms of low‐skilled service work as a future source of employment.     

Women's Work,Dirty Work: The Gynaecology Nurse as ‘Other’

This article seeks to explore the world of the gynaecology nurse. This world defines the gendered experience of nursing; that is, women in a women's job carrying out ‘women's work’. It is also a world that receives scant public recognition due to its association with the private domain of women's reproductive health. Many issues dealt with on a daily basis by gynaecology nurses are socially ‘difficult’: cancer, infertility, miscarriage and foetal abnormalities; or socially ‘distasteful’: termination of pregnancy, urinary incontinence, menstruation and sexually transmitted disease. The ‘tainted’ nature of gynaecology nursing gives it the social distinction of ‘dirty work’ but does not deter the gynaecology nurse from declaring her work as ‘special’, requiring distinctive knowledge and skills. Qualitative data collected from a group of gynaecology nurses in a North West National Health Service hospital displays how they actively celebrate their status as women carrying out ‘dirty work’. Through the use of ceremonial work that continually re‐affirms their ‘womanly’ qualities the gynaecology nurses establish themselves as ‘different’, as ‘special’, as the ‘other’.     

‘Somebody Watching You’: Impact of Reflecting Teams on Hope in Couple Relationships

Reflecting teams (RTs) represent both an epistemological stance and a therapeutic technique. Most commonly associated with narrative and systemic approaches to therapy, RTs offer an outsider perspective that can bring hope and alternative narratives and perspectives for therapists and clients to explore. Relational hope is a little researched concept in the field of couple therapy research. This study explores the experience of RTs in couple relationships and the aspects of the experience that couples describe as connected to a sense of hope for their relationship. The study also considers whether difference in attachment style shows any relationship with hope in couple relationships before and after the clients’ session with a reflecting team. Couples completed questionnaires about their attachment style, demographics, and relational hope and were given the option to complete an interview about their experience with the reflecting team within 1 month of their therapy session. Our findings suggest that RTs contribute positively to hope in couple relationships particularly for clients who present with an anxious attachment style. This direction for research is important because there is very little research about hope in couple relationships despite its importance (Merolla, 2014; Snyder, 2002) and there is no research about what aspects of a reflecting team contribute to hope in couple relationships. Analysis of interviews indicates a number of features of the reflecting team feedback that were valued by clients.     

Young Peoples’ Representations of ‘Atypical’ Work in English Society

In this paper, we explore young peoples’ normative representations of work. In particular, we are interested in the ways young people view work roles which could be considered ‘atypical’ such as young caring or language brokering. Interviewed were 46 young people (15–18 years) some who did, and some who did not engage in the ‘atypical’ work roles of language brokering or young caring. Findings indicated that young people have a strong representation of what a ‘normal’ childhood comprises and that friends, teachers and parents play a mediational role in cementing this contextually. However, respondents presented two alternative representations around engagement in ‘atypical’ roles, with some individuals holding both views at the same time. On the one hand, they felt that engagement in ‘atypical’ activities would be experienced as a loss of ‘normal’ childhood. On the other hand, a more positive representation of ‘atypical’ childhoods was also drawn on, in which engagement in ‘atypical’ activities was seen as a source of pride and a contributor of additional skills to a child’s development. This opinion was evidenced by both those who had, and those who had not engaged in ‘atypical’ work.     

‘It's Not Fair!’—Voicing Pupils’ Criticisms of School Rules

Socialisation theories have traditionally focused on how children are socialised in a rather unidirectional manner, according to a transmission model. However, more recent research and theories show that children are not just passive recipients, but active agents in their socialisation process. At the same time, children are subordinated to adult control. In school, they are regimented and involuntarily subjected to mass routines, discipline and control. The aim of this study was to explore and give a voice to pupils’ critical thinking about school rules and their teachers’ behaviour in relation to these rules. Ethnographic fieldwork and group interviews with students were conducted in two Swedish primary schools. The findings show that pupils criticise some school rules, distrust teachers’ explanations of particular school rules, perceive some school rules and teachers’ interventions as unfair and inconsistent, perceive no power over the construction of school rules, and express false acceptance and hidden criticism. The findings are discussed in terms of hidden curriculum, power, mentality resistance, democracy, participation and democratic citizenship education.     

‘Because they tip for shit!’: The Social Psychology of Everyday Racism in Restaurants

Despite the notion that racism and discrimination are things of the past, racial minorities continue to experience such treatment in everyday interactions, often occurring in commercial transactions. In this paper, we analyze data from a survey of restaurant servers (N = 200) and a qualitative field study. Both were designed to explore the racial climate in restaurants. Our findings show that servers not only observe their co‐workers practicing discriminatory behaviors but also report doing so themselves. Referring to this trend as ‘tableside racism’, we argue that restaurant servers engage in racist discourse, which functions to create and sustain stereotypes about black patrons. These workplace interactions shape the service that is extended to black patrons, thus resulting in a self‐fulfilling prophecy wherein they receive poor tips and treatment from blacks that reflect inferior service. To illustrate the process of server discrimination, we situate our findings in a social psychological framework.     

Accounting for Exclusion: Giving a ‘Voice’ and producing a ‘subject’

SUMMARY: This article examines a series of accounts of exclusion given by pupils and a teacher in interviews and a group discussion. It is argued that it is important to hear pupils' experiences. However, it is recognised that it is never possible to access an experience directly, since the process of research alway shapes the way an account is constructed. This does not invalidate the research, since it is argued that the way pupils relate to the interviewer and the way they talk about their exclusion seemed indirectly to reflect important differences in the way exclusion is experienced. Specifically, two ways of managing exclusion were identified by pupils: some pupils protested about being excluded and welcomed the invitation to tell their story. Others distanced themselves from the event, by speaking of their exclusion in objective and concrete terms. These styles of accounting are compared to the way in which the head teacher discusses the topic of exclusion.     

The Exchange of Aesthetics: Women's Work and ‘The Gift’

Drawing on empirical research data on the work of flight attendants, this paper will explore Marcel Mauss's theory of ‘gift’ exchange relations, with particular reference to his concern with the ‘exchange of aesthetics’ (Mauss 1954), as an analytical model which may contribute to our understanding of ‘women's work’ in contemporary Western societies, of which, we shall argue, the work of female flight attendants is a notable example. It will begin by locating the authors' analytical and theoretical concerns with ‘women's work’ within the context of recent empirical research. It will then go on to outline briefly a Maussian model of exchange relations and to identify the potential utility of this analytical model for the study of women's work. This paper then goes on to offer an analytical account of empirical research into the work of flight attendants and to analyse the ways in which airline service provision constitutes a critical case study of women's work, certain elements of which involve a form of ‘gift’ exchange relations which operate, not as an alternative to, but inside — and in the interests of — commodity exchange relations. Finally, in the light of recent feminist work, this paper will conclude by suggesting the wider implications of this analytical model for the study of gender and work.     

‘Cleaning Your Glasses’: A Prerequisite for ‘Catching Your Child Being Good’

Used widely throughout the parenting literature, the phrase ‘Catch them being good’ encapsulates much of current practice that has been shown to be effective in reducing instances of non‐compliance in children with complex and challenging behaviours. ‘Catching your child being good’ is obviously in line with the strategies of praise, encouragement and positive reinforcement. But for some parents, ‘Catching their child being good’ after long periods of defiance becomes almost an impossible task. Metaphorically speaking, ‘Cleaning your glasses' is a necessary prerequisite for effectively ‘catching your child being good’. This metaphor and an associated six‐phase therapeutic intervention seek to enhance a parent's ability to ‘Catch their child being good’, by working through parental distortions, restraints and negativity. This paper introduces the metaphor's origin and use; describes keys concepts; and gives a detailed case example to highlight the advantages and limitations of the intervention.     

‘So Much We Still Don't Know’: An Interview with Averil Earnshaw

I was independently told about Averil Earnshaw by three different people in the same six month period. Each of them had heard, or heard of, Averil's presentations on the theme of time-linked intergenerational repetitions, and knew of my own interest in repeating patterns in families. Averil very willingly granted me the interview that follows, and in the course of talking with her, I began to realise that Averil's was yet another story of someone who had formulated an original hypothesis based on repeated clinical observation, and had the courage to present it to gatherings of her peers, only to encounter skepticism, lack of interest, or charges of ‘idiosyncrasy’. Despite Averil's best efforts to show that her hypothesis was consistent with the direction of Freud's own thinking, the psychoanalytic movement had greeted it lukewarmly, and it seemed to me that perhaps it might be of more interest to readers of this Journal, since the older and more psychoanalytically-influenced generation of family therapists (e.g. Bowen, 1978; Skynner, 1976) recognised the general principle of repeating patterns across generations, although not the very particular temporal law that Averil has suggested. The Earnshaw hypothesis is simply enough stated: the emotional and intellectual crises of adults’ lives (including onset of mental and physical illnesses, creative break-throughs and creative blocks) are time-linked to major events in the lives of their same-sex parents at the same age. Often, though not always, says Averil, one experiences a crisis when one is the same age as one's same-sex parent was at the time of the birth of one's next sibling, or even when one is the same age as one's parent was at one's own birth. Averil's short bookTime Will Tell (1995) illustrates this hypothesis with some fifty brief case studies based on biographical data from the lives of famous individuals, as well as with a number of cases from her clinical practice, and examples from her own life. Averil herself recognises that her hypothesis needs to be rigorously tested on a wider sample, but to date, those who have criticised it as ‘merely anecdotal’ have not been willing to undertake such a study.     

NGOs’ transnational advocacy networks: from ‘legitimacy’ to ‘political responsibility’?

NGOs that operate as part of transnational advocacy networks face a number of ‘legitimacy challenges’ concerning their rights to participate in the shaping of global governance. Outlining the legitimacy claims that development NGOs make, the article argues that ‘legitimacy’ is a socially constructed quality that may be ascribed to an NGO by actors and stakeholders with different viewpoints. NGOs operating transnationally link disparate communities and conceptions of legitimacy, and undermine the discourse and practice of sovereignty. Therefore such NGOs will find it difficult to be universally regarded as legitimate, especially by states that hold a sovereignty‐based conception of legitimacy. However, relationships are the building blocks of networks, and efforts to improve them should not be abandoned simply because ‘legitimacy’ is too closely connected with sovereignty. In particular, NGOs ought to improve their relationships with the poor and marginalized communities whose interests they claim to promote. To this end, the concept of ‘political responsibility’ is suggested as a pragmatic approach to understanding power relations as they arise in transnational advocacy networks and campaigns.     

‘Belonging’ and ‘Otherness’: Sex Equality in Banking in Turkey and Britain

The struggle for sex equality at work has largely been achieved in the developed world, it is claimed. The number of well‐qualified young women entering white‐collar employment and achieving promotion to first‐line and middle management positions now matches or exceeds their male peers. Many young women have high career aspirations and argue that sex discrimination no longer exists. However, this perception is over‐optimistic. Major sex inequalities persist at senior management level in the salaries and benefits offered to female and male staff and in access to certain favoured occupations and sectors of employment. Questionnaires, interviews and documentary evidence from three Turkish and six British banks and high street financial organizations showed that their claimed commitment to equal opportunities by sex was not matched by their practices. Members of managerial elites (who were almost exclusively male) held firm views about the characteristics of ‘the ideal worker’, which informed organizational ideologies, including human resource policies and practices concerning recruitment and promotion. They also permeated organizational cultures, which affected employees’ working practices and experiences. The outcome of these internal negotiation processes was to differentiate between a favoured group of staff seen as fully committed to the companies’ values, who were promoted and rewarded, and an ‘out’ group, whose members were denied these privileges. This distinction between ‘belonging’ and ‘otherness’ is gendered not only along the traditional lines of class, age, sexual orientation, religion and physical ability, but also along the new dimensions of marriage, networking, safety, mobility and space. Despite local and cross‐cultural differences in the significance of these factors, the cumulative disadvantage suffered by women staff seeking career development in the industry was remarkably similar.     

‘Don’t underestimate the things that I will do’

Based on a true story. It is about an awakening in which a single mother realizes that she has been manipulated by her society — rather, what the society instilled into her mind.