Contingency and Social Change: Collective Engagement in Conditions of Radical Uncertainty

This paper addresses the nexus between contingency, social engagement and change, through investigating the potential of severe (“disruptive”) contingency to bring about new forms of joint agency. By challenging Boltanski's notion of existential tests (which can only be experienced in isolation), the paper argues that social actors can experience disruptive contingent events in an inherently intersubjective manner. Although they severely hinder social interaction, disruptive contingent events enable a possibility of what might be called “negative common knowledge” between social actors which in turn renders certain societal norms meaningless. This possibility is mediated through processes of mutual engagement (calls between actors) that could, further, be transformed into a new “norm circle” (Dave Elder-Vass). Social domination – in particular its “complex” variety – in this context appears as the obstructing of such transformation. A recent political episode in Serbia is analyzed to demonstrate the emancipatory potential of contingency and the logic of complex domination.     

The physical office work environment and employee wellbeing: Current state of research and future research agenda

Despite the awareness that employees spend at least half of their awake time at work, knowledge about how the physical office work environment (POWE) shapes employee wellbeing remains fragmented, inconsistent and scattered across disciplines. We provide a narrative review of the empirical literature to summarise the current state of the science and lay the groundwork for advancing a more holistic and nuanced theoretical understanding of the mediating mechanisms underlying the POWE-wellbeing relationship. To do so, we propose an updated taxonomy of POWE features, incorporating a new dimension – exposure to nature, and use this extended taxonomy to examine the evidence base on the relationship between POWE features and five dimensions of wellbeing: affective, physical, social, cognitive and professional. Based on our findings, we extend a meta-theoretical model which identifies three distinct theoretically-driven mediating pathways – relatedness, energy and functional discomfort – through which POWE features differentially influence wellbeing dimensions. In doing so, we integrate the organizational behaviour theory of Job Demands-Resources and the environmental psychology framework of POWE functions to argue that POWE functions can be both demands and resources-generating, and can, therefore, have simultaneous positive and negative consequences for employee wellbeing. We conclude with a critical examination of theoretical, methodological and practical implications for future research.     

Disorganized attachment,mentalization and dissociation in context of childhood trauma: Implications for depressive symptoms

Extensive evidence indicates that adults with experience of childhood trauma and disorganised attachment are at a higher risk of suffering from depressive symptoms, while at the same time dissociation and mentalisation are very important risk and protective factors in this relation. Although mentalisation and dissociation are mentioned as potential mediators of this relationship, very few studies have analysed the mutual relations between these variables. Bearing in mind the importance of creating more specific and effective ways for dealing with depression, especially within vulnerable groups such as the traumatised, the aim of this research is to examine a serial mediation model in which disorganisation is modelled as effecting a decrease in mentalisation, in turn lead to dissociation, thereby resulting in depressive symptoms. Adult respondents (N = 153) with a history of interpersonal childhood trauma were selected from a larger geographical cluster sample from the general population of Serbia. The respondents filled in a battery of instruments, including The Childhood Traumatic Events Scale, Relationship Questionnaire – CV, Patient Health Questionnaire, Short Scale for the Assessment of Stress-Related Dissociation Symptomatology and the Mentalisation Scale. Our findings suggest that disorganisation has an effect on depression by leading to a decrease in the ability to mentalise, which further triggers dissociation, resulting in depressive symptoms as a final consequence (estimated indirect effect = 0.014, 95 percent CI = 0.005 to 0.026). Additionally, the specific indirect effect involving dissociation as the sole mediator was also significant (estimated indirect effect = 0.058, 95 percent CI = 0.030 to 0.091). Targeting dissociative symptoms in the treatment in patients struggling with depression aftermath of traumatic experience could gain a great benefit for recognition and selection of more adequate treatment strategies.