Anger—Has It a Positive as Well as Negative Value? (Recent Research into Causes,Associated Features,Diagnosis and Treatment, 1998–2003)

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, anger has both positive and negative aspects, and hence, there is a value to anger. Properly directed anger can lead to positive action and produce feelings of being in control of situations perceived to be threatening. On the other hand, there are a large number of negative repercussions with the feeling and expression of anger, i.e., negative physiological reactions such as increased blood pressure and heart rate. Anger appears to be age and gender related and is likely precipitated by a particular situation. There are a number of diagnostic out treatment approaches to anger management that are discussed here with reference to their usefulness with adult and child and adolescent populations. Programs that are used early and long enough appear to promise good results in preventing further expressions of anger or internalised anger.     

‘There's a huge gulf between me as a male carer and women': Gender,domestic responsibility,and the community as an institutional arena

This paper explores the persistent link between women and domestic responsibility, a link that has been heavily documented and yet much less frequently theorised. Drawing on a qualitative research project with a 'critical case' study sample of couples trying to share housework and childcare in Britain in the early 1990s the paper argues that part of this puzzle linking women and domestic responsibility can be addressed by adopting wider definitions of domestic responsibility and of community. While domestic responsibility is often conceived as family labour that occurs within families/households, it also has inter-household, inter-institutional and community dimensions. With regard to a wider conceptualisation of the community, the paper argues that the community is more than a social institution; it is an institutional arena within which families/households, inter-household relations, community-based social networks and a wide array of community activities occur. The overall findings and implications of the research presented in this paper are three-fold. First, gendered socially constructed norms and gendered community-based social networks are highlighted as important factors that help to account for the persistent link between women and domestic responsibility. Second, taking cues from research carried out in Third World and low-income Western communities, it is important to shift research agendas on domestic divisions of labour to focus not only on intra-household divisions but also inter-household and intra-community relations. Third, the need is highlighted for greater attention to the links between socially constructed norms on masculinities, men's friendships and domestic responsibility. Este articulo explora la conexión persistente entre las mujeres y la responsabilidad doméstica. Se ha documentado mucho veces esta conexión pero se ha teorizado muy pocas veces. Se hace uso de una investigación cualitativa con un estudio tipo 'caso crítico' del cual proviene una muestra de parejas que intentan compartir las tareas domésticas y el cuidado de los niños, y se sostiene que se puede tratar parte de este enigma que une a las mujeres con la responsabilidad doméstica si se adoptan unas definiciones mas amplias de la responsabilidad doméstica y de la comunidad. Mientras que a menudo se suele concebir la responsabilidad doméstica como trabajo familiar que tiene lugar dentro de las familias/los hogares, también tiene dimensiones inter-hogares, inter-institucionales y comunitarias. Con respecto a una conceptualización mas amplia de la comunidad, este artículo sostiene que la comunidad es más que una institución social; es un ruedo institucional (Goetz, 1997) dentro del cual se encuentran las familias/los hogares, las relaciones inter-hogares, las redes sociales basadas en la comunidad y una amplia gama de actividades comunitarias. Tienen tres aspectos las conclusiones e implicaciones globales que se presentan en este artículo. Primero, se ponen de relieve las connotaciones de género, que se evidencian en las normas sociales y en las redes sociales basadas en la comunidad, como factores importantes que ayudan a explicar la conexión persistente entre las mujeres y la responsabilidad doméstica. Segundo, es importante seguir el ejemplo de investigaciones realizadas en el tercer mundo y en las comunidades occidentales de bajos ingresos, y cambiar el enfoque de las investigaciones de las divisiones domésticas del labor para centrarse no sólo en las divisiones entre el hogar sino también en las relaciones entre los hogares y entre la comunidad. Tercero, realzo la necesidad de prestar mas atencion a los vínculos entre las normas sociales sobre las masculinidades, las amistades entre los hombres y la responsabilidad doméstica.     

Writing as Pathology,Poison, or Cure Henri-Frédéric Amiel's Journal intime

This article examines the life and work of Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 19th-century Swiss diarist. It argues that his journal provides an exemplary text through which to examine the issues of pathographesis, or the writing out of illness. Situating the diary within the Romantic contexts of melancholy and self-exploration, it shows that Amiel took themes and genre further than ever before, producing a piece of writing that both defines and creates his ills. Amiel's relationship with his diary is tense and tragic: it is therapy but also poison and comes to embody personal and professional sterility. Thus ideas of pathographesis have to be extended to cover the semitextual limbo in which Amiel subsisted, where “writing out” illness was more fraught than merely “writing about” it.     

Friendship as Sisters

AFTER more than 100 years of constant change, Hong Kong has finally returned to the motherland. Looking toward at this special occasion, we cannot forget the past events between the women of the mainland and those of Hong Kong. Since September 26, 1984, when the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in Beijing, the women from these two areas have made efforts for Hong Kong's smooth return and stable transition. As the biggest women's organization on the mainland, the All-China Women's Federation has been in close contact with the women of Hong Kong, increasing mutual understanding as well as deepening feelings of sisterhood.     

‘We are not as alike,as you think’ sense of individuality within the co-twin relationship along the life course

We have explored how older twins experience and describe themselves in relation to their co-twin. The life stories of 20 older twins were analyzed with narrative analysis.Results showed that the twins described themselves from the point of differences in relation to the co-twin. This was based on experiences of how other people viewed them as alike, as well as on life events along the life course, which contributed to the perception of oneself as an individual in relation to the co-twin. The emphasis on unlikeness was therefore interpreted as a way of trying to establish a position as an individual within the co-twin relationship and to assert ones individuality to the rest of the social environment. To claim oneself as an individual was an ongoing identity work along the life course.     

Privatisation as professionalisation? Attitudes,motives and achievements among Swedish social workers

The purpose of this article is to discuss the relationship between privatisation and professionalisation in social work. In social services, privatisation is often seen as a politically planned (policy-driven) process as part of liberalisation strategies for market orientation of the welfare state. However, there are several reasons to believe that there is also a process of spontaneous privatisation (sometimes driven by demand), where professionals go private and provide various types of services to local welfare authorities. In this article, our aim is to explore the extent, impact and consequences of such profession-driven privatisation and to discuss whether privatisation is a strategy for professionalisation.

This article investigates: (1) attitudes among social workers and social work students toward privatisation in general and private practice in particular; (2) the extent and types of activities being performed privately; (3) the motives whether or not to choose self-employment; (4) the differences between public and self-employed social workers in terms of professionalisation.

Data are based on surveys of 1,000 Swedish social workers and 801 social work students. The results show ambivalence among professionals toward privatisation. The authors discuss the reasons for this at an individual and collective level. Although the share of social workers in private practice in Sweden is low, between 6 and 8%, more than one third of Swedish social workers expect to be working in private practice within 10 years. The circumstances faced by self-employed social workers, who rank higher on almost every professionalisation indicator (i.e. formal education, attitude toward research, internal status, wage level, autonomy), support the hypothesis about profession-driven privatisation.     

Australia as the Supermarket to Asia? Governments,Territory, and Political Economy in the Australian Agri-food System

Abstract The changing role of the nation state in agri-food systems is illustrated through a case study of the Supermarket to Asia, a recent policy initiative of the Australian government. The Supermarket to Asia provides a policy discourse that fills gaps created through policies of deregulation and self-reliance. It involves the creation of bureaucratic mechanics that straddle the public-private interface and gives explicit attention to small and medium-sized enterprises. In these ways, the state constructs a new set of relations, alliances, and allegiances with agri-food capital. The durability of these arrangements depends on the extent to which these policy arrangements are perceived to be consistent with the new realities of global agri-food trade.     

A corporate responsibility? The constitution of fly-in,fly-out mining companies as governance partners in remote,mine-affected localities

In some remote parts of Australia, mining companies have positioned themselves as central actors in governing nearby affected communities by espousing notions of ‘voluntary partnerships for sustainability’ between business, government and community. It is argued in this paper that the nature and extent of mining company interventions in nearby communities constitutes a new problematic for these corporate actors. Drawing on research conducted in two remote areas in Australia, this paper undertakes an analytics of government to ask how mining companies have become leading actors in determining the future of local, mine-affected communities. It is suggested that their interventions arise from two processes: industry priorities for securing a ‘social license to operate’ by making a positive contribution to affected communities; and the restructuring of the state which has created an institutional void in these remote localities. As a result, mining companies are ‘filling the gaps’ in local service delivery through a mode of governing that takes the form of patronage rather than partnership. This raises questions about the future viability of these communities once the mines eventually close, and new challenges of governing for corporate actors.     

Public relations as “dirty work”: Disconfirmation,cognitive dissonance,and emotional labor among public relations professors

Public relations is among the least-respected professions in the world. Despite this uncomfortable fact, little research has seriously considered that public relations is perceived as a “dirty” profession, and how that perception translates into difficulties for public relations academics. Scholarship has not examined the lived experiences of public relations professors and how we reconcile our sense of self and self-respect in the mixed academic and professional environments that are often (un)intentionally disconfirming to our chosen area of study. Thus, this critical and self-reflexive essay takes up the challenge of dealing with the issues of disconfirmation, cognitive dissonance, and emotional labor that may be experienced by public relations professors in their interactions with colleagues, students, and even family members or friends.     

My Pleasure as a Postwoman

"THE post office will allow the daughters of post and telecommunications staff to become postwomen," said father after he arrived home. That happened one day in early 1951. When I heard the news, I was so happy I jumped for joy. My father     

Palace Maiden Remembered as Heroine

THE story of Wang Zhaojun's marriage is a true story in Chinese history that has become a common household legend. Zhaojun was a beautiful young Han woman who lived long ago. In order for central China to be on good terms with the minority nationalities in remote, northern China, and to bring the war between these two powers to an end, Wang sacrificed herself, agreeing to marry the chief of the Xiongnu     

The writer as the people's therapist: Der Nister's last decade, 1939–49

ABSTRACT

World War II and the Holocaust caused profound changes in the style and themes of Der Nister's writing. He reevaluated his symbolist legacy and emerged as one of the most powerful and tragic voices in Soviet Yiddish literature. His transformation from a respected but marginal literary figure into a self-styled national leader became complete with his adventurous journey to the Jewish Autonomous Region of Birobidzhan in the Soviet Far East, which he envisioned as a site of new Jewish revival. His illusions were crushed by his arrest in 1949.     

“The Sociologist as Voyeur”: Social Theory and Sexuality Research, 1910–1978

Sociology has a long history of social theory and ethnographic research in the area of sexuality. Although it has been largely overlooked, this body of work prefigures later advances by social constructionists and queer theorists. This article reviews some of the early theoretical and empirical contributions to the sociology of sexuality, organized into five broad themes: the denaturalization of sexuality and its origins; the historicization of sexuality; the analytic shift from deviants to deviance/margins to center; the destabilization of sexual categories and identities and emphasis on the fluid and diverse meanings of sexual acts; and the theorization of sexuality and gender as performance. This article suggests that sexual stigma may contribute to the marginalization of sexuality studies in sociology.     

Advertising images as social indicators: depictions of blacks in LIFE magazine, 1936–2000

One of the most important prerequisites for building a more visual social science is demonstrating that visual data provide answers to research questions, which are not addressed satisfactorily by the use of more conventional, non‐visual, methods. In this article the author argues that a systematic analysis of the images in print advertisements not only accounts for patterns in contemporary American race relations as reliably as findings derived from national surveys like the General Social Survey (GSS) and the US Census, but also illuminates questions that are often raised by, but seldom resolved with, quantitative data. These questions include, for example, consideration of what factors might encourage respondents to espouse some attitudes – or to make certain choices – but not others. More specifically, a close examination of trends in advertisements published in Life magazine between 1936 and 2000 reveals that, while the white commitment to racial integration appears to have taken longer to develop than survey data suggests, this commitment seems to be much firmer than findings based on census data imply. Nevertheless, the trend in advertising images also shows that, even with a steadily growing white commitment to racial integration, there are still areas of social life where whites are wary of blacks and find it hard to imagine scenarios that exemplify relations of moral equality.