When the unconscious joins the game:a psychoanalytic perspective on modernization and change

Abstract: The article presents a psychoanalytic and cultural perspective on the modernization of the welfare state in a Danish context. The article analyzes the processes of change and development in public welfare organizations through theoretical and empirical perspectives. The first statement argues, that development and change related to modernization cause anxiety, defensiveness, and ambivalence. The second statement shows how an analysis of transference provides significant insight into organizational and human dynamics, thereby refining our understanding of change and modernization. The third statement posits that in the setting of public welfare administration, the typical response to anxiety and defense mechanisms involves rational and instrumental measures rather than the establishment of a reflective, defense-reducing working environment. The fourth statement suggests that developmental work activates previous experiences that can either inhibit or facilitate development and change in a complex alternation. The fifth statement points to the economic, political, and cultural context and its influence on the intensity and extent of defense mechanisms. Key words: life history, modernization, change processes, transference, defense mechanis

Interaction, transference, and subjectivity:A psychoanalytic approach to fieldwork

Fieldwork is one of the important methods in educational, social, and organisational research. In fieldwork, the researcher takes residence for a shorter or longer period amongst the subjects and settings to be studied. The aim of this is to study the culture of people: how people seem to make sense of their lives and which moral, professional, and ethical values seem to guide their behaviour and attitudes. In fieldwork, the researcher has to balance participation and observation in her attempts at representation. Consequently, the researcher’s academic and life-historical subjectivity are important filters for fieldwork. In general, fieldwork can be understood as processes where field reports and field analysis are determined by how the researcher interacts with and experiences the field, the events and informants in it, and how she subsequently develops an ethnography. However, fieldwork is also subjected to psychodynamic processes. In this article, I draw upon a number of research inquiries to illustrate how psychodynamic processes influence research processes: data production, research questions and methodology, relations to informants, as well as interpretation and analysis. I further investigate through a case study how the psychoanalytical concepts of “transference” and “institutional transference” can provide insight into the dynamics of efficiency and democracy at a number of Danish human service organisations

Rehabilitation in Principle and Practice: Perspectives of Inmates and Officers

This article addresses rehabilitation, its conceptualisation by officers and inmates, and its expression in practice within a select Norwegian prison. It reports on findings from a qualitative interview-based research project conducted as a pilot study, whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted with inmates and officers at the prison. Furthermore, the authors examine the principle of rehabilitation as it follows from Norwegian law and assess how it is implemented in practice in a Norwegian prison. The preliminary findings from the study reveal factors—such as inmate isolation and mental health challenges, drug use, unequal treatment, and limited capacity and resources—that are impacting the effectiveness of what the prison has intended to achieve and ask for further research and discussion in this area.publishedVersio

Context Matters: Concepts of School Engagement in the Context of Geographic Isolation

This case study research represents an attempt to gain a better understanding of conceptions of school engagement in a rural, isolated, agricultural mid-western community. Local school administrators, in collaboration with a regional university, chose to make student engagement the focus of deep inquiry in order to better address student concerns, improve teaching, and student outcomes (Association of Teacher Educators, 2007). Researchers interviewed students, teachers, and parents in a local high school, using an interview protocol specifically designed for each constituency. The study results point to a mostly behavioral, or compliance driven concept of engagement among all groups interviewed, but further examination of data also show that students tended to voice a desire for a higher degree of agentic engagement, along with a strong need for positive relationships with teaching faculty. This points to a need for teacher educators to more deeply address preservice students’ understanding of engagement, as well as a potential to shift to a conceptual understanding of student engagement that is more agentic in nature. Implications include avenues toward broadening conceptions of engagement among staff, students, and parents; increased understanding and implementation of educational strategies designed to increase engagement at both the classroom and school levels; and catalyzing changes in educator preparation programs that improve candidates’ understanding of and ability to be effective in isolated rural school communities