NATURAL HEALTH DISCOURSES AND THE THERAPEUTIC PRODUCTION OF CONSUMER RESISTANCE

Social critics of the natural health movement charge that it indoctrinates consumers in a therapeutic consumerist ideology. This "dominated consumer" thesis ignores that socially situated individuals must negotiate a plethora of institutionally specific power structures aiming to classify and govern their identities. Accordingly, resistance toward specific institutional constructions of identity can be produced through marketplace ideologies. I explore this understudied ideological effect by analyzing the narratives of women who are using natural health alternatives to resist their ascribed medico-administrative identities. Natural health's therapeutic ideology enables these women to contest the degenerative implications of their medical diagnoses and, conversely, to reconstruct their chronic illnesses as an opportunity for discovering their inner regenerative potential and expanding their spiritual horizons. This analysis has implications for prior studies suggesting that resistance toward the technocratic and bureaucratic aspects of conventional medicine exemplifies a Foucauldian "care of the self." I argue that a postmodern adaptation of Foucauldian theory is needed to address the complex interrelationships among the care of the self, medical consumerism, and the therapeutic ideology of the natural health marketplace.     

GROWTH BEHIND THE MIRROR:, THE FAMILY THERAPY CONSORTIUM'S GROUP PROCESS

An earlier paper (Wendorf, 1984) presented the pragmatic aspects and theoretical model of The Family Therapy Consortium, a group set up to provide supervision and continuing education in family therapy. The emphasis was on the development of each individual therapist's competency, the isomorphic relationship between the supervisor, group, therapist, and family levels of the therapeutic system, and the legitimacy of the term "peer supervision." Beginning under the leadership of an expert supervisor hired from outside the group, the Family Therapy Consortium has developed into a peer supervision group with a "floating," rather than fixed, supervisory hierarchy. The present paper charts this development and explores the peer supervision process as it currently works in the Consortium. The focus is on the growth of the individual behind the mirror as therapist, person, leader and group member, and on the growth of the group as a "mature sibling subsystem" no longer in need of outside supervision. Individual and group development are seen as complementary aspects of the same growth process.     

LABOR FORCE COMPOSITION AND THE PHILLIPS CURVE

This paper presents a model of unemployment and wage inflation based on Phillips curves estimated by age-sex-color groups. The model is estimated using data for the period 1949–1967 with projections for the period 1968–1973. The paper concludes that when allowances are made for changes in the age-sex-color composition of the labor force the standard Phillips curve framework is quite capable of explaining the 1968–1973 period without resorting to the notion of a "natural rate of unemployment" or a "long run Phillips curve."     

Personal Authority via Termination of the Intergenerational Hierarchical Boundary: A "New" Stage in the Family Life Cycle

This paper proposes a stage in the family life cycle, occurring in the fourth decade of life, the goal of which is to terminate the hierarchical boundary between the adult client and the older parents. This requires a radical renegotiation of the power structures in the relationships between the two generations, and in the interactional political patterns which ensue from these. The essence of the process is a redistribution of power in the direction of equality, with the intention of establishing a peer relationship between the first and second generations in the three generational family cycle. This experience is understood to be power politics at the source.     

GROUNDING THE POSTMODERN SELF

In postmodern discourse, self is displaced as a central presence in experience and reappropriated as yet another personal signifier. This paper describes key postmodern views, then reframes postmodern vocabulary in terms of interpretive practice. It argues that the postmodern framing of self is too abstract and that a distinctly modern discourse focused on the deprivatization of interpretive activity can account empirically for features of postmodern "presence." Comparative ethnographic and narrative material is offered in illustration. We conclude by suggesting how self can be retrieved for classical sociological commentary and research.     

Lesbian discourses in mainstream magazines of post-war Japan: is onabe distinct from rezubian?

This paper elucidates the changes in the meanings associated with the term rezubian (the Japanese term for "lesbian") through an analysis of its discourse in magazines for general readership published in post-war Japan. The category of "rezubian" first appeared in mainstream magazines in the 1960s as a generic category that referred to both "masculinized women" and "women who engage in sexual acts with other women." Masculinized women, in particular, were called "onabe." At first "onabe" denoted "a tachi rezubian," meaning a lesbian who plays "top," but gradually a distinction came to be made between "rezubian who are onabe" and "rezubian who aren't." The early 1990s saw the differentiation of "onabe" as a category distinct from that of "rezubian." Focusing particularly on this process of differentiation, this paper traces the transitions in the signifying practices pertaining to the category rezubian. doi:10.1300/J155v10n03_09.     

BUILDING ON PRETREATMENT CHANGE TO CONSTRUCT THE THERAPEUTIC SOLUTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

This paper reports the authors' "accidental" discovery that change in the problem situation frequently occurs prior to the first session, and that clients can often recall and describe such changes, if prompted. The authors describe one technique for eliciting reports of pretreatment change from clients, and discuss the results of an informal survey of 30 families who responded to this intervention. Rather than discounting pretreatment change as a "flight into health," it can be framed in Batesonian terms as a "difference that makes a difference."     

A TEST OF THE CURVILINEAR HYPOTHESIS WITH FACES II AND III

Previous research has not supported the validity of Olson's "curvilinear hypothesis." Convergent validity studies of the FACES I and II have indicated that the "cohesion" and "adaptability" dimensions have a linear relation with healthy family functioning. It is not clear, however, whether these findings are due to the measurement of the FACES' constructs or to the curvilinear theory. This study tested the "curvilinear hypothesis" in terms of these theoretical and measurement issues. The results indicate that FACES II and III do not adequately operation-alize the "curvilinear hyothesis." However, an item consistent with the "curvilinear hypothesis" utilizing a bipolar item response format did adequately opera-tionalize the theory. The use of a bipolar item response format is suggested in the measurement of "cohesion" and "adaptability."     

THAT WHICH WE CALL WELFARE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL SWEETER AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF QUESTION WORDING ON RESPONSE PATTERNS

Responses to survey questions are dependent on the words usedin the questions. Sometimes the alteration of words can completelychange the response distribution without obviously changingthe meaning or intent of the question. This situation occurswhen "welfare" is used instead of "poor." In all contexts examined"welfare" produced much more negative and less generous responsesthan "poor." In addition the two terms appear to tap slightlydifferent dimensions with "welfare" accessing notions of wasteand bureaucracy that are untapped or tapped much less by "poor."     

SAMUELSON'S DICTUM AND THE STOCK MARKET

Samuelson has offered the dictum that the stock market is "micro efficient" but "macro inefficient." That is, the efficient markets hypothesis works much better for individual stocks than it does for the aggregate stock market. In this article, we review a strand of evidence in recent literature that supports Samuelson's dictum and present one simple test, based on a regression and a simple scatter diagram, that vividly illustrates the truth in Samuelson's dictum for the U.S. stock market data since 1926.(JEL G14 )     

Growth through defeat and the reenactment of a family drama

The thesis of this paper is that defeat in psychotherapy, as in premature termination, or an incomplete or unsuccessful therapeutic experience, may be due to insufficient attention to the reenactments of a family drama on the part of the patient and/or the therapist. Insight for understanding in a nonjudgmental manner is emphasized. This is because of inclinations toward self denigrating attitutdes, particularly in relation to “defeat” experiences.     

Social Movement Endurance: Collective Identity and the Rastafari

In this paper we argue that a movement's longevity depends on its ability to develop and sustain a strong sense of collective identity. We investigate social movement endurance by examining the Rastafari, whose membership is comprised primarily of disadvantaged Jamaicans of African descent. While many social movements fade after a short-lived peak, the Rastafari not only has persisted, but it also has become globally important. Despite its radical posture and its perceived threat to the Jamaican established order, the movement has prevailed for more than six decades. On the basis of a number of concepts derived from different theoretical traditions in social movement theory, we examine the dynamic processes involved in the construction of collective identity among the Rastafari. We are particularly interested in the concepts of "cognitive liberation,""movement culture/boundary structure," and "the politics of signification." These concepts allow us to describe and analyze the key dimensions of the Rastafarian collective identity. This framework, we argue, enhances our understanding of collective identity as well as the processes contributing to social movement longevity.     

Underemployment and the American Dream—"Underemployment-Consciousness" and Radicalism Among Young Workers

This paper explores propositions concerning the work attitudes and political views of educated young workers who are not able to find jobs commensurate with their education and skills. Underemployment theorists have proposed that growing numbers of college graduates are over-educated for the jobs available to them and may develop (1) "underemployment-consciousness" and (2) a new political radicalism growing out of their work-deprivation. In a sample of predominantly college-educated young unemployed workers, I report evidence of pervasive feelings of "over-education" but relatively low "underemployment-consciousness." A significant relationship is reported between underemployment-consciousness and radical political views among college graduates but not among non-graduates, providing preliminary support for the proposition that political dissent is most likely to emerge among the highly educated underemployed. The persistent strength of the American Dream, including assumptions of individual mobility, success and luck, is discussed to interpret the relative optimism of approximately two thirds of these workers about finding interesting work and a challenging career.     

ANA MENDIETA AND THE POLITICS OF THE VENUS NEGRA

The theorizations by some early feminists of the affiliation between Earth and woman, the ‘archetype of the Great Goddess’, and the ‘universal female’, are today regarded with embarrassment as essentializing, ultimately disempowering gestures. This article examines a 1981 project by Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta for the feminist art journal Heresies. In this project she combines a photograph of one of her own earthworks with her translation of the nineteenth-century Cuban legend The Venus Negra. By investigating this legend in the context of nineteenth-century Cuban nationalism, and this earthwork in terms of twentieth-century US/Latino politics, this article argues that the Earth is not necessarily the essential category it appears to be. It claims that the discursive deployment of the Earth - the nation's primitive Other - subverts ideologies of the nation and contributes to its performative renegotiation. Further, it suggests that, in using this legend to disrupt the hegemonic construction of nation, both the legend's authors and its contemporary translator play with the performativity of both gender and race.     

THE IMPACT OF R&D INVESTMENT ON PRODUCTIVITY–NEW EVIDENCE USING LINKED R&D–LRD DATA

This paper uses confidential Census longitudinal microdata to examine the association between R&D and productivity for the period 1972–1985. These data allow for significant improvements in measurement and model specification, yielding more precise estimates of the returns to R&D. Our results confirm the findings of existing studies: 1) positive returns to R&D investment 2) higher returns to company-financed research 3) a productivity "premium" on basic research These results are robust to adjustments for "influential outliers." Also, our evidence suggests that the return to company-financed R&D is an increasing function of firm size.     

Implementation with renegotiation when preferences and feasible sets are state dependent

In this paper, we present a model of implementation where infeasible allocations are converted into feasible ones through a process of renegotiation that is represented by a reversion function. We describe the maximal set of Social Choice Correspondences that can be implemented in Nash Equilibrium in a class of reversion functions that punish agents for infeasibilities. This is used to study the implementation of the Walrasian Correspondence and several axiomatic solutions to problems of bargaining and taxation.     

RISK PREFERENCE AND THE WORK-LEISURE TRADE-OFF

The paper investigates the interrelationships between the wage rate, period of employment, work-leisure choice and the attitude toward risk. The model makes risk preference endogenous given external forces acting on individual choice. Beginning with assumptions normally considered consistent with risk aversion –––namely concave utility with respect to leisure and wealth along with perfect markets–––rational behavior consistent with the "insurance buying gambler" is shown to be a reasonable possibility. The theory also provides an explanation for the "repeating gambler paradox."     

A DESIGN OF NORMATIVE SOCIOLOGY BASED ON THE RATIONAL CHOICE PARADIGM

Abstract  In this paper, I metatheoretically examine a design of normative sociology. Normative sociology is the normative-scientific study in sociology. The substance of normative science is the conceptual examination of values or value judgments. According to Coleman (1974) and Faran, (1989) et al., sociologists should contribute to normative science by using ideas from general sociological theory. There is a useful traditional enterprise for this aim in sociology; that is the study of the problem of order, particularly the study of it based on the rational choice paradigm. Seiyama (1992) points to the limits of the rational choice paradigm. I propose three aims of social theory, and claim that the study of the problem of order based on this paradigm is useful when our purpose is normative model-building. I call the problem of order as a subject of the study for this purpose "the value-theoretical problem of order." This examination can clear up some of the theoretical confusion surrounding the problem of order and show the methodological basis of normative sociology based on the rational choice paradigm.     

Cultural Change and Gender Identity Trends in the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract  As in most capitalist countries, the advent of the "consumer society" has brought about radical cultural change in Japanese society. In this paper I aim to illustrate the undercurrents of this change, focusing on the transformation of social consciousness and gender identity as it is reflected in the popular and youth cultures. In order to show these changes, I have sellected several bestsellers from youth fictions ( sekhun-shousetsu ) as my main object of study and have presented several diagrams to illustrate the apparent relationship between this type of fictions and the so-called "aprgs-guerre" generation, the "gang of sun," the "baby-boomers," the "moratorium generation," the "mutant generation." While analyzing the historical trend of youth fiction for the last 45 years and refering to the other types of popular culture (films, popular songs, comics etc.), I shall attempt to throw light upon the substance of these changes and predict what directions the Japanese culture is likely to take in the future.     

Therapists’ Responses to Treatment Termination: An Inquiry into the Variables that Contribute to Therapists’ Experiences

The study investigates predictors of emotional responses to treatment termination in a sample of 48 professional social workers and 92 student social workers in Israel. The findings show that the respondents found treatment termination to be moderately difficult, and client initiated terminations to be especially difficult and to bring in its wake particularly negative emotions. They also show that the aftermath of the termination was related to the process. The less abrupt the termination, the more control the therapists had over the termination process, the more central the therapeutic relationship was to them, the more they attained the therapeutic goals, the less they believed that the therapy had failed, the more choice they had in the treatment termination, and the more they wanted the termination, the more positive self-feelings the therapist reported. The paper suggests that treatment termination is better viewed as a transition than a loss and discusses the clinical implications of the findings.