Suffering and generativity: Repairing threats to self in old age

Suffering is a powerful experience that can be difficult to articulate. Suffering differs from pain alone and includes an individual's awareness of a threat to self through death, loss of identity, or uncertainty of the meaningfulness of one's life. In response to this threat, generative acts, especially creative expressions imbued with the self, may act as a means to repair the self in crisis. The case of Mr. A, an 85-year old man in good health, illustrates how various artistic pieces he created – a wooden dog and several poems – helps him to restore a “fading” self. For Mr. A. the idea of “fading away” or becoming weaker and less useful until eventually disappearing is a major source of personal suffering. Through his art, he creates unique, interactive and tangible entities that can outlive his physical body and help him reclaim or repair threats to selfhood.     

Systemic Senses of Self*

An effort is made to extend the scope of the general theory of action to encompass some of the major dimensions of the individual's structure of self-conceptions. This is attempted through formulation of four subjective “senses of self,” one corresponding to each of the functional problems held in action theory to be essential features of all systems. The senses of competence, self-determination, unity, and moral worth are offered as the individual's subjective interpretations of his standing in relation to his objective problems of adaptation, goal-attainment, integration, and pattern-maintenance. It is argued that these four senses subsume and organize many important but scattered themes in the literature of self theory and general symbolic interactionism. Operational, procedures are offered with which these senses may be assessed in empirical research, and some illustrative outcomes are presented from the author's longitudinal study of self-conception changes over the course of retirement. The discussion also touches upon some of the methodological problems encountered in attempting to establish the empirical validation for this kind of theoretical extension.     

The Power of Perceived Experience: Events That Shape Work as a Calling

Meaning plays an important role in many people's lives and work. A significant source of meaning derives from a greater sense of fulfilling one's calling, or purpose in work. This study examined the specific life experiences that shape people's perceptions of their calling and the characteristics of those experiences that make them so powerful. Fifty‐eight people who self‐identified as leaders responded to a questionnaire about the relevant experiences that shaped their perceptions of their work as a calling. Participants' responses were content‐analyzed to generate a taxonomy of themes in 4 overarching categories: (a) content of the event, (b) context of the event, (c) confirmation of one's call, and (d) the continuing effect that the event has had on the individual's life. By increasing knowledge about events that affect perceptions about one's calling, counselors may be more equipped to shed light on the potential, unexamined trajectories of a client's work and life.     

Some Observations on the Use of TA in Marriage Counseling*

Most marital difficulties are seen as a function of childhood problems leading to childhood solutions. This paper emphasizes the symbiotic aspect to marital problems both in terms of the individual's existential position and his racket/ racketeering behavior. The goal of treatment is to have the individual utilize his resources for himself and to negotiate these resources for his mate. A group of spouse and non-spouse members, coupled with a Transactional Analysis orientation, is seen as the most useful approach to effect change in a person, as well as in his relationship to his spouse.     

Identity and everyday experiences of homelessness: Some implications for social work

It is important for the complexities of homelessness to be considered when constructing policy or practice relating to people who are without safe and stable accommodation. These complexities can be loosely categorised around the definitions, causes and experiences of homelessness. While definitions and causes are topics of current debates, study of the lived-experiences of homelessness remains an area that is largely under-researched. This paper explores some of the implications for social work and social workers when the individual's understanding and experience of her/his identity as a ‘homeless person’ and consequent relationships with service providers are not factored into policy and practice. This article draws on the findings of a study of homeless adults in inner city Adelaide to illustrate the author's arguments. It outlines the importance of listening to service users' perspectives in order to assess whether dominant constructions of social work, homelessness and ‘homeless people’ are meeting the needs of and improving outcomes for individual clients. More broadly, it is hoped that making these perspectives visible will assist in the development of ‘client-focused’ practice and policy.     

Charles Horton Cooley,Pragmatist or Belletrist? The Complexity of Influence and the Decentering of Intellectual Traditions

This essay treats recent attempts to identify symbolic interaction (SI) founding theorist Charles Horton Cooley as a pragmatist sociologist exemplifying, and even influenced by, the pragmatism of Charles Saunders Peirce, as an example of the American exceptionalist character of SI. Beginning with Cooley's creative approach to conceptualizing the social, these attempts are scrutinized and measured against the contention that Cooley's thought can be equally if not more understood as a product of influence of the literary essay tradition. A close reading is given of the concordance of his personal journal with a selection of his published writings concerning the influence of members of Cooley's essayistic “genre matrix” – Emerson, Montaigne, and Walter Pater – on the development of his intellectual self and thought. Further substantiation is supplied by an analysis of the essayistic influence on Cooley's rigorous treatment of qualitative methodology. It is concluded that a decentered positioning of Cooley's work is preferable to a single‐origin one.     

More than a Façade: Somatic and Structural Determinants in Erving Goffman's Theory of the Perduring Self

This paper argues that Erving Goffman endorses the veracity of a perduring self. Culling the corpus of his work, recent findings in neurophysiology and cognitive science surrounding the autonomy and mutual determination of emotion, cognition, and social structure are drawn upon when unpacking his highly composite theory. Isolating Goffman's claims about the psychobiological underpinning of the emotionally sentient body and those pertaining to macro and micro‐structural determinants, the former, it is argued, champion the coherence of the self insofar as they link cathected feelings to individual desires and inclinations. The latter, conversely, complicate the picture by accentuating the social construction of emotions and the relationship between episodic cognitive operations and multifarious interpretive frames. In the end, however, it is shown that Goffman's macro‐structural account, far from being residual, discloses the consistency, and unity of the self occasioned by social proximity and general social norms.     

The Effect of Failure on Self-Concept

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of failure on an individual's self-concept. A model based on attribution theory, among others, is elaborated to predict how an individual's self-concept will be affected by failure situations. It is argued that where the individual chooses to attribute causality for failure, the situation will determine the effects of that failure on his self-concept unless the individual's belief system modifies the attribution process. This attribution is related to one major individual difference: a person's generalized expectancy for control. It is hypothesized that an individual's predisposition to conceive of causality as deriving from either controllable forces or uncontrollable forces will mediate the attribution process and hence the effect of the failure on his self-esteem. The hypothesized effects of failure on self-concept are tested by analysis of 122 undergraduate students' responses to a series of ten hypothetical failure situations. Responses to the situations were compared across individuals who varied along the internal-external and self-confidence dimensions of personality. Analysis indicated that the respondents' reactions to failure situations seemed to depend on the combined effects of the internal-external and self-confidence dimensions. These reactions seemed to mediate the attribution process resulting from failure and the effects of these attributions on self-concept.     

‘I can see it in the nightclub’: dance,capoeira and male bodies

This paper reports an ethnographic study of how Brazilians teaching capoeira in the UK use dance as a discursive and embodied pedagogic strategy both to change men's bodies and also to gauge the success of their instructional work. The theoretical framework is drawn from Herzfeld's neglected study of the poetics of manhood in Crete which is revisited in the light of his subsequent analysis of the embodiment of ethnographic practice. Ethnographic research is used to show how British men learning capoeira are enculturated into a different, Brazilian, embodiment in which dance is masculine, and dancing is one way to display a social self‐regard. Discourse about performance helps to define the appropriateness of the social self‐regard that the capoeira students acquire and display.     

Fewer and better

Throughout this century an increasing body of knowledge has been accumulating concerning the individual and the society in which he lives. In helping the emotionally disturbed individual to adjust to his environment we have been concerned with his intrapsychic conflicts and his relationships with the key figures in his life. Since the 1940's there has been a new concept evolving which combines the knowledge of the dynamics of an individual's emotional development and growth, communication theories and the work of social scientists concerning social systems.     

Hugo Münsterberg and the Origins of Vocational Guidance

Hugo Münsterberg was among the most famous psychologists in the world at the turn of the 20th century. Despite his preeminence and associations with prominent leaders in several disciples, including Frank Parsons, his abrasive personality and unpopular politics led to his work being largely ignored during the 20th century. One such work is H. Münsterberg's (1910c) Vocation and Learning: A Popular Reading Course, which represents an early trait‐and‐factor psychological model of vocation. This triangular model suggests that people and vocations are composed of thinking, feeling, and willing dimensions that must be aligned to find the most suitable vocation for the person.     

Rumor: An Examination of Some Stereotypes

Third in Symbolic Interaction's symposium tribute to Tamotsu (Tom) Shibutani (1920–2004), this article pays homage to Shibutani's work on rumor. In his book, Improvised News, Shibutani introduced a grounded theory of rumor that was a radical break from the dominant approach of the time. This break was based on the observation that rumor is not a deviant act, but rather the routine social act of defining ambiguous but important situations. Implicit in his work is a critique of rumor stereotypes including the notion that those involved in rumoring are highly suggestible, irrational, and dangerous; that rumors are inaccurate, distorted, and exaggerated; and that rumors threaten the social order. The article concludes by challenging assumptions about the spread of rumor and that rumors are single, stand‐alone statements.     

Discrimination and Reaction: The Practical Constitution of Social Exclusion

This article explores and extends Blumer's work on race prejudice and discrimination by using empirical data from an ethnographic study of minority communities in Greece. Blumer explains prejudice as the result of an interactional process through which one group defines itself as superior or dominant in relation to the other. His work on race prejudice has often been misinterpreted as emphasizing the individual's subjective imaginary of the “other.” Here I illustrate the importance of the intersubjective processes involved in defining a particular social situation as discriminatory. A central point of the article is to elaborate on his analysis by looking at the experience of prejudice and discrimination from the receiving end, through the participants' interpretation of their social interactions with the dominant group. Therefore I focus on how members of the subordinate group interact with the process that Blumer identifies.     

The Body in Mind: Mead's Embodied Cognition

This article highlights the role played by the body in the work of George Herbert Mead. For Mead, the social emergence of mind depends on human physiology. This is revealed through a detailed exploration of three thematic domains in his work: the organism–environment dyad, perception, and the manipulatory stage of the act. From this, I argue that Mead saw the body as constitutive of cognition and central to the development of mind and self. Present-day research supports this view and demonstrates Mead's relevance for understanding embodied cognition.     

Women's self‐presentation and the transition from classroom to workplace

Organizations place context‐specific appearance demands on women — demands that often echo wider inequalities, require adaptation of self‐presentation and impact on women's careers. Despite this, the effect of life and career stage transition on women's self‐presentation and embodied identities remains largely unexplored. Drawing on a qualitative study of young British women's body modification, this article examines what impact transitioning from education into the world of work has on women's self‐presentation and body modification regimes and their embodied identities. Body modification here refers to all methods women use to alter their physical body and appearance (e.g., invasive or non‐invasive; self‐administered or other‐administered; permanent or temporary), provided the intention of their use is primarily to alter the user's physical appearance. Expectations of transition, the impact of entering the workplace and of career establishment are considered as well as the significance of career stage and vulnerability for resistance and negotiation of organizational expectations. Transition of life stage is found to be a catalyst for self‐presentation change. The transition from education to work is identified as having a significant impact on body modification practices across workplaces.     

An analysis of dyadic dominance in family decision‐making among older adults

Growth of the population aged sixty‐five and over is a significant trend in the sociodemographic structure of society. As a result, this age group is receiving increased attention from governmental and business decision‐makers. Little is known, however, about intra‐family decision‐making among members of this group. This paper presents an analysis of the determinants of husband and wife dominance in family decision‐making. The data indicate that dominance by the wife in decision‐making is related to the wife's positive self‐concept concerning the ability to make decisions as well as a “rub‐off” effect on the wife by the husband's self‐concept. Work history of the husband, in turn, contributes to his self‐concept. There were, however, no significant relationships between educational levels of either spouse and decision‐making dominance.     

Adolescents’ Daily Experience of Fathers’ Emotional Support and Self‐Evaluation in Korea

Recently, fathers’ role in children's development has been recognized internationally. In Asian countries, similar conversations have emerged but there has been a lack of empirical studies that considered the unique cultural contexts. As a response, based on Bronfenbrenner's process‐person‐context‐time model, the present study examined the daily dynamics and individual differences in the experience of fathers’ emotional support and self‐evaluation in social roles among 283 Korean adolescents in 5th and 8th grade. Through Hierarchical Linear Modeling, within‐person associations between adolescents’ experience of fathers’ emotional support and self‐evaluation in social roles on the same day and the next day were found, with individual differences by grade level and family affluence. Theoretical and practical implications within the relevant cultural context are discussed.     

Where Does Religion Matter Most? Personal Religiosity and the Acceptability of Wife‐beating in Cross‐National Perspective

Does religion justify violent acts against wives, or does it reduce approval of this type of intimate partner violence? We examine whether personal religiosity raises or lowers the acceptability of wife‐beating. In addition, we investigate how the relationship between personal religiosity and attitudes toward wife‐beating differs depending on the overall normative context of the country where a person lives. Using multilevel modeling with data from the fifth wave of the World Values Survey (2005–2008), we find that greater individual‐level religiosity reduces the acceptability of wife‐beating. More importantly, cross‐level interactions show that these reductions are greatest in countries where there is a general lack of normative restraint as measured by the “anomie” scale. These observations suggest that religiosity may influence an individual's norms the most in countries where secular controls are absent or weak.