Suchergebnisse

Critical disability studies must respond to the inequities of globalization and place an analysis of disability at the epicentre of a geo-political imagination. Hardt and Negri's Empire and Multitude provide us with the sparks to fire this imagination. Their work synthesizes critical analyses of globalization, the economic expansion of late capitalism, rapid developments in communication and the impact of biopower on the subjectivities, living conditions and activism of 'the global citizen'. This article uses their concepts of Empire and Multitude to give voice to the practices of disabled families in the Global North and Global South; the stories of Wayan (an Indonesian disability activist and mother) and Isabelle (a British mother of a disabled child). We conclude that the work of Hardt and Negri can be critically employed to theorize 'disablism in Empire' whilst articulating the activism of the 'disabled Multitude' in ways that speak across South/North divides.

Researching Life Stories critically and pragmatically reflects upon the use of life stories in social and educational research. Using four life stories as examples, the authors apply four different, practical approaches to demonstrate effective research and analysis. As well as examining in detail the four life stories around which the book is written, areas covered include: * Method and methodology in life story research * Analysis * Reflections on analyses * Craft and ethics in researching life * Policy, practice and theory in life story research. Throughout the book the authors demystify the issues surrounding life story research and demonstrate the significance of this approach to understanding individual and social worlds. This unique approach to life story research will be a valuable resource for all social science and education researchers at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Women in Britain comprise 44 per cent of the overall workforce (Labour Force Survey, 1994) and 10.7 per cent of those in managerial occupations (UK National Management Survey, 1995). While much research has documented and critiqued the structural position of women and its impact in the workplace, little empirical work has examined the way in which women see their work environments. Addresses this issue by exploring the way in which a sample of women managers in manufacturing describe the workplace. Using a measure of organizational climate, compares data from 156 women managers with a sample of 894 male managers. Also examines comparative levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and mental health. Results suggest that women managers see their organizational worlds in a significantly more positive light. Explores the explanations and practical implications of these findings.

The International Journal of Disability and Social Justice is a timely intervention into the interdisciplinary field of Disability Studies. Any new initiative, especially in a pre-existing and maturing field of inquiry, should encourage us all to think critically and reflexively about the key questions and issues that we should be grappling with today. This paper offers an inevitably partial take on some of the key concerns that we think scholars, activists and artists of Disability Studies should be engaging with. Everything we do these days takes place in the shadows cast by the global pandemic. While it is important to acknowledge the centrality of COVID-19 – and the threat this poses to the mind-bodies, politics and everyday realities of disabled people – we want to foreground some preoccupations, ideas and debates emerging from within the field of Disability Studies that will have resonance beyond the pandemic. We will begin the paper by offering a perspective on the contemporary nature and state of Disability Studies; suggesting that many of us are Critical Disability Studies thinkers now. Next, in order to narrow the focus of the discussion in this brief paper, we choose one emergent and popular theoretical orientation – posthuman Disability Studies. Then, we introduce and elaborate on four broad concerns that we think we should engage with; desire, alliances, non/humans and their implications for conceptualising social justice. Throughout the paper we will work through some of the power dynamics, questions of accountability and requirements for a generosity of engagement that these concerns provoke.

This accessible textbook provides an overview of theoretical and practical issues around psychological work in a range of community settings. This is the ideal resource for students of different community based professions, working in a range of applied settings, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Abstract
This article argues that understanding uncertainty in contemporary societies and its psychosocial consequences is possible through a transdisciplinary perspective. This integrates sociological, psychological, economic and political dimensions. To address this, we offer a critical theoretical reflection that draws on diverse conceptual perspectives within the social sciences. In recent years, in psychological research, uncertainty has been mainly analysed as an intrapsychic phenomenon and as a psychological trait through the concept of (in)tolerance of uncertainty. In contrast, we argue for a psychosocial analysis of uncertainty, considering its socio-economic and political origins, thereby challenging its trait-like analysis. For example, we highlight the inputs of attachment theory for the understanding of uncertainty, connecting it to Marris's thesis of an unequal distribution of uncertainty and of the power to cope with it (1996). This analysis of uncertainty integrates psychological dimensions with social ones within contemporary western societies, proposing the use of the concept of psychosocial uncertainty. The consequences of uncertainties impact upon employment, relationships and communities, where we can locate the social origins of depression, anxiety, distrust, victim-blaming or lack of cohesion in communities. Besides precarity at work, we now face precarious forms of living, endangering the fundamental processes of psychic and social individuation. Finally, we locate the social origins of uncertainty and its psychological consequences within the responsibilities of social sciences. Drawing on psychology, from social and community psychology to clinical and organizational psychology, we query the relationship between theory and practice. Underpinning this argument is an appreciation of Marris's contribution to the construction of 'politics of collaboration/association and reciprocity, as opposed to politics of disempowering uncertainty/dissociation'.

Home-Start is a family support charity whose delivery model is a national and global example of how targeted volunteer support can benefit parents, carers and children experiencing difficult times, in both domestic and other spaces. Parenting support continues to be a key policy area for the current UK government and other policy-makers across the Global North. In this article we draw on qualitative findings from an ethnography of a Home-Start organisation in a city in the north of England. The theoretical framework of liminality, a space between social structures, allows for an appreciation of the ambiguous nature of supporting parents in the private domestic spaces, and the ways in which this support enables parents and families to move forward. The article has broader implications for global social care and social work practice, specifically demonstrating the importance of the relationships between parents and volunteers in the every day, and contributes to the literature on liminality.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to answer the question "what is good research?" from the perspective of critical researchers working in the discipline of psychology.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first look at what it means to be "good", then what it means to be critical and then interlink these two as a means of providing a context to understand why there appears to be so little critical research around. Findings– The authors have put together a narrative that they hope is readable but that still pulls on the different ways each of them have approached the topic of defining good research and thinking about critical research.Originality/valueThe authors have personally witnessed the disappearance‐ing of critical activists, anti‐psychiatry activists, disability rights activists, trades unionists, critical scholars; and put forward a reason (among others) as to why there is so little good critical research, which is that the status quo is implacably ferocious in its efforts to close it down wherever it occurs. Indeed, if the status quo is not doing its damnedest to close down the research you are doing, you can be reasonably sure it is not good critical research.