Suchergebnisse

The impact of automation on subjectivity & occupational & organizational identity in the workplace is examined. Office automation is changing the culture of work along at least five dimensions: (1) the transformation of decision-making tasks; (2) the internalization of the organizational dimension of work; (3) the acceleration of the learning curve; (4) the virtualization of work; & (5) the decoupling of individual & organizational goals & identities. The absence of a pure untechnological space to retreat to in contemporary society mandates that technology be designed to preserve those human qualities deemed to be of most value. D. Generoli

Cultural concepts that have posed problems for scholarly & sociopolitical debates about working mothers across the EU are identified, highlighting discourses of individualization, motherhood, & changing patterns of marriage/family life. The socially constructed nature of the "good mother" is exposed & its historical impact on policies related to working mothers is described. Various theories of women's individualization & its relationship to predictions about the declining significance of marriage & dissolution of the family are reviewed, along with relevant research findings. The evolution of family policy toward greater gender equality across various EU welfare regimes is traced, demonstrating how cultural notions of gender impact individual women's work decisions. These arguments are illuminated with data from a case study comparing the family-work attitudes of mothers in East & West Germany. K. Hyatt Stewart

"The study by Andreas Hirseland and Werner Schneider deals with the meaning and the structural change in individualisation in the modern period and aims at spelling out, in a more comprehensive way, the connection between the institutional level and the subject level (...) They explain the changing arrangement of being directed either by oneself or from the outside using the example of the development of the welfare state. Modernisation is reflected in the successive conversion from a providing and caring system to a preempting, activating regime that in itself points to a new thrust towards individualisation. The focus of welfare state policy is no longer classical rights of protection; it is a question of an 'activating individualisation', namely of according individual rights within a universal working society. While, within the framework of the first modern period with its formation of centralized states, the differentiation between public and private, the normal working relationship, and the normal biography, it was still a question of creating and maintaining an overall social body by means of the institutional disciplination of the individual body, today the all-encompassing implementation of a new type of subjectivity seems to be in the foreground. In this connection the old institutions of power of external disciplination and control join up with the earlier 'opposing powers' autonomy and freedom, in that their striving for autonomy is redirected and asserted even against resistance. In this way the labour market and welfare state reforms of the last years show that the formerly 'controlled' subject is freed from old controls in accordance with the new institutional direction and is subjected to an imperative 'care of himself' (see Foucault 1989). Under the motto 'Fordern und Fördern' (encouragement plus obligations) as well as 'Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe' (help towards self-help) the technologies of the self become reflexive-modern and point to totalizing autonomy attributions and further to the radicalized and unsecured responsibility of self-reliant 'creating of oneself' as a member of the working community." (Text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

"The paper examines the conditions under which the concept of social innovation is being cast. Three features of modern society were first identified as the hallmarks of a changing world: the dominance of large multinational firms, the decline of the welfare state and the individualisation of citizens. From this, we see how the society is being rebuilt through the constituency of social innovation in three key facets: the public interest and common good, a new approach to the concept of service and the networks strengthening the bonds of trust between citizens." (author's abstract)

At the level of border regions operate a series of models and structures of
cross-border cooperation, all these being built on the basis of levels of relationships between
various public, private or non-governmental actors. The construction of cross-border
regions is thus closely linked to cross-border cooperation, which must be understood as
cooperation between at least two entities located along a common border. The European
Commission has advocated a long time for "cooperation for development" to support
disadvantaged border regions, in the Centre and Eastern part of the continent. Despite the
progress made, there are still some obstacles created by existing national legal and
administrative frameworks that have a direct impact on the lives of border area residents.
The new approach to regional development creates the promotion of networks between
different urban centres and favours the complementarity and individualisation of each
region, placing them at the centre of European strategies. In this context, the study aims to
analyse the intensity of different types of cross-border relations and the involvement of
regional actors in the deep integration of regions corresponding to NUTS III administrative
territorial units, Bihor (RO), Hajdu-Bihar (HU), based on cross-border integration models
and indicators developed by Castañer, Jańczak and Martín-Uceda.