Interactionism in the Twenty‐First Century: A Letter on Being‐in‐a‐Meaningful‐World

Half a century after its crystallization, interactionism faces new challenges. While elements of this theoretical tradition have percolated into the broader field of sociology, some of its most radical promises have been ignored. This essay provides a blueprint for how to approach interactionism today: not as a historical remnant, but as a living tradition with much to offer contemporary scholarship. Yet to do so, we argue, interactionism must develop some of its core tenets, offering more explicit links both to the sociology of culture, and to other areas in sociology. Focusing on our own experiences and writings, we point to ways in which the careful study of interaction can provide a font of ideas for the broader sociological discipline. We address the significance of affordances, situational webs, group commitment, embeddedness, and disruption, and show how such reorientation can help us better analyze oppression and privilege.     

Recording and Interpreting Work‐Related Daydreams: Effects on Vocational Self‐Concept Crystallization

This mixed‐methods study examined the effects of recording and interpreting work‐related daydreams on vocational self‐concept crystallization and attitudes toward daydreams. Fifty‐one college students were assigned to 1 of 2 experimental groups—daydream journal group (n = 15) and daydream interpretation group (n = 18)—and a control group (n = 18). Data were analyzed using analyses of covariance. At posttest, both experimental groups showed higher levels of vocational self‐concept crystallization than the control group, and the daydream interpretation group perceived their daydreams as more relevant than the control group. Qualitative data were collected via written postintervention surveys and embedded as a supplement to the quantitative design. The qualitative data support the findings that participants in the experimental groups gained a greater awareness and clarity regarding their vocational self‐concepts and a greater belief in the relevancy of work‐related daydreams.     

Welfare‐to‐Work Services: A Person‐Centered Perspective

Services designed to assist job seekers to leave public assistance and gain employment are well established throughout the U.S. Many of these programs are created and delivered by professionals of higher socioeconomic class backgrounds, but many program participants are of lower social class status. This situation can create “cross‐class” difficulties in the design and delivery of effective job‐search services. The author argues that using a person‐centered perspective, with the deliberate inclusion of genuineness and empathy in all phases of programming, may neutralize cross‐class variables and increase the effectiveness of interventions. Examples from programs emphasizing person‐centered concepts are offered.     

The EU‐Turkey‐'deal': Legal Challenges and Pitfalls

The EU‐Turkey “deal”, based on the Joint Action Plan (JAP) between the European Union (EU) and Turkey, raises fundamental questions on the range of European asylum law as well as on the scope of the safe third country concept, which has turned out to serve as a political master key to “solve” the problems of the so‐called “refugee crisis” in Europe. This article discusses the legal possibilities of the application of the concept as well as its limitations regarding the human rights orientation of European and international law, focusing on the evolvement and legal implementation of the “Merkel Plan”. The legal analysis also focusses on recent ideas to make new “deals” with third states such as Libya. It concludes with a critical but differentiated(?) acclaim of the controversial externalizing policy approach.     

Stories of Non‐Becoming: Non‐Issues,Non‐Events and Non‐Identities in Asexual Lives

In contrast to conventional models of positively “becoming” an identity through social interaction, this article explores the inverse, negational process of “non‐becoming,” whereby actors start but do not continue along an identity career trajectory. Through cumulative attrition, interactions and encounters at key moments create an overall pattern of non‐progression. Using asexuality as an example, we identify three main trajectory stages of non‐awareness, communicative negation and non‐consolidation, each involving interactional contingencies. With a wider applicability to other repudiated identities, this model shows how even negational symbolic social objects (non‐issues, non‐events, and non‐identities) are constituted through social interaction.     

Nurturing Nature: Exploring Ecological Self‐of‐the‐Therapist Issues

Much has been written about the systemic effects of families and culture on individual well‐being. Seldom discussed, however, are the systemic effects of our relationship with the larger ecological system in which all families and cultures are embedded. A case is made for the importance of nature in family therapy. Furthermore, before therapists can effectively address ecological issues in therapy, they need to address various ecological self‐of‐the‐therapist issues that will influence their clinical practice. A series of questions are asked to help guide therapists in this exploration, and practical suggestions for incorporating nature into MFT clinical practice, training, and research are made.     

Task‐to‐Task Vagal Regulation: Relations With Language and Play in 20‐Month‐Old Children

In this article we report patterns of task‐to‐task vagal tone change across multiple language and play tasks as well as associations between these patterns of task‐to‐task vagal tone change and language and play performance in 20‐month‐old girls and boys. Although initially different in vagal tone suppression during solitary play, girls and boys exhibited similar group patterns of vagal reengagement during successive language and play tasks with their mothers and with an experimenter. In terms of individual differences, vagal suppression during solitary play and vagal reengagement during social interactive tasks predicted language and play performance. Gender differences emerged in patterns of predictive relations: Task‐to‐task vagal changes predicted primarily play performance in girls and language performance in boys. These findings expose the effects of social context on directional changes in task‐to‐task vagal tone and speak to the functional role of appropriate vagal regulation in young children's language and play performance.     

Postmodern‐oriented practices and patient‐focused research: possibilities and hazards

In this article two streams of thought within family therapy, one representing a traditional research focus and the other postmodern oriented practices are brought together. A qualitative study is described that used standardised measures to monitor therapeutic practice and provide feedback on process and outcome to therapists. The opportunities and pitfalls concerning this approach are discussed and illustrated. The use of measures as conversational tools increases and expands opportunities for collaboration between children, parents and their therapists. However, in organisations these measures risk becoming tools of competition instead of conversation, which is helped when managers take responsibility for implementing and supporting a culture of feedback.     

Commodity Fetishism and Consumer Senses: Turn‐of‐the‐Twentieth‐Century Consumer Activism in the United States and England

At the turn of the twentieth century, the National Consumers’ League, the Co‐operative Wholesale Society, and the Women's Co‐operative Guild encouraged people to become ethical consumers. I argue that we can explain their common strategies by invoking commodity fetishism. By casting their consumer activism as a practical response to the fetish of commodities, we explain: 1) activists’ use of sensory techniques – both figurative and literal – to connect producers, commodities, and consumers and 2) their commitment to the ethical power of the senses. This account reveals the virtues of commodity fetishism as a tool for understanding the dynamics of consumer activism.     

Decision‐Making in Paediatric Rehabilitation: Exploring Professionals' and Children's Views on Decision‐Making Involvement

The article explores the distinction that professionals make between difficult and less difficult decisions in paediatric rehabilitation interventions. This distinction is explored by looking at the involvement of two children in decisions regarding paediatric rehabilitation interventions. The article argues for a clinical practice where children's experiences are extensively used to improve practice and to accommodate the child's right to participate in medical decisions concerning their own body and life. The different ways the children and the professional describe their experiences provide an avenue for a discussion on how medical reasoning can curtail children's involvement in decisions.     

The effects of ability on returns to over‐ and under‐education: Evidence from Malaysia

In Malaysia, skilled‐job creation does not match the rising number of tertiary‐educated workers. The resultant accumulation of skill and ability competencies and work experience raises the question of the extent to which this enhances (mitigates) the wage premium (penalty) of over‐education (under‐education). Using data collected in Peninsular Malaysia in 2015, the authors estimate the effects of ability on returns to education. Their findings suggest that improving specific types of ability may be a means of rectifying wage deficiencies resulting from over‐ and under‐education. On this basis, human resource development in schools and in the workplace should focus on developing job‐specific workplace abilities.