Identity and Ideas: A Roundtable on Identity Politics

This roundtable discussion examines the issue of identity politics and how identity influences and is influenced by gay/queer politics and theory. The participants discuss how identity politics affects political organizing and activism, how different identity communities can build coalitions, how the language related to identity is evolving, and how sexual attractions and practices interact with identity. The discussants look at how the influx into the gay and lesbian movement of new groups that challenge traditional identity boundaries—e.g., bisexuals and transgendered people—is affecting the movement. Finally, the discussants examine how “idea-based” politics may supplant identity-based politics as a new inclusive paradigm.     

Some theoretical considerations on confidential adoption part IV: Countertransference

Psychological self-awareness is as essential to the maturation of one's professional self as is the development of theoretical and clinical expertise in child placement. This paper represents a first published attempt at examining countertransference in adoption. The focus is within the context of confidential adoptions, which the authors believe is more child-focused and intrapsychically based than the current experimentation with open adoptions. A distinction is made between countertransference and non-countertransference issues. Countertransference responses are divided into Racker's three categories: the concordant; the complementary; and the disjunctive. Clinical data illustrates these responses in actual practice from the perspective of confidential adoptions.This paper was presented in 1985 before the Illinois Infant Mental Health Association, National Society of Clinical Social Workers, and the National Association of Social Workers National Professional Symposium.This is the last of a series. Parts I, II, and III were published in Vol. 2, Nos. 1, 2, and 3.     

Technical change and employment in the post-war gas industry

The development of the post-war British gas industry reveals a pattern of continuous productivity increase accomplished by a series of significant technological changes and substantial reductions in the labour force. Moreover, the transition from coal gas manufacture to the gassification of oil, and, more recently, to the exploitation of natural gas was accompanied by marked changes in the composition of the work force. Such changes raise a number of questions concerning the potential for re-training and redeployment measures within industries undergoing technical change. The paper examines the manner in which the shedding of labour took place within the gas industry, looks at the extent to which retraining measures were a feature of its development, and suggests some more general issues that are raised by this case study and which warrant further consideration.     

An Empirical Approach to Supervision and Training of Relationship Therapists

This paper presents an empirical approach to supervision and training of marriage and family therapists. Advantages from the use of the empirical approach include a systematic investigation of the skills and competencies of the therapist and establishing the basis for the scientific study of supervision. A Counseling Problems Worksheet is presented to help in developing multiple hypothesis related to counselor skill deficiencies. Two case studies are given to demonstrate the use of the empirical approach .     

Exorcising the Ghosts In the Marital System

A heuristic model is presented for the diagnosis and treatment of families in stress. A systems approach and psychoanalytic concepts are integrated to understand and modify dysfunctional behavior transmitted across generations .