From Infanticide to Activism: The Transformation of Emotions and Identity in Self-Help Movements

Taylor and Leitz trace processes of collective identity construction and politicization among women suffering from postpartum psychiatric illness who have been convicted of infanticide. Joining a growing body of research suggesting that self‐help and consumer health movements can be a significant force for change in both the cultural and political arenas, Taylor and Lietz examine one such movement, a pen‐pal network of women incarcerated for committing infanticide. Taylor and Leitz show how a sense of collective identity fostered by the pen‐pal network triggered a profound emotional transformation in participants, allowing them to convert shame and loneliness into pride and solidarity, and encouraging their participation in efforts to change how the medical and legal system treat postpartum psychiatric illness.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/peace_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

Same-Sex Couples, Families, and Marriage: Embracing and Resisting Heteronormativity

Abstract This article focuses on lesbian and gay couples and families and the politics of same-sex marriage. Drawing from the literature on same-sex couples, same-sex marriage, and queer theory's concept of heteronormativity, we argue that gay and lesbian couples and families both affirm and challenge heterosexual and gendered family forms. First, we review literature that discusses how same-sex relationships and families are similar to and different from conventional heterosexual relationships and families. Second, we discuss the socio-legal and cultural inequalities faced by LGBT families. Third, we discuss the politics of same-sex marriage, examining the debate among social conservatives, pro-marriage activists, and queer critics over the desirability of same-sex marriage. We conclude that the growing visibility of LGBT couples and families has made their exclusion from the institution of marriage more conspicuous and that recognition of LGBT relationships and families seems likely to increase

Do we need to categorize it? Reflections on constituencies and quotas as tools for negotiating difference in the global food sovereignty convergence space

Convergence–as an objective and as a process–designates the coming together of different social actors across strategic, political, ideological, sectoral and geographic divides. In this paper, we analyze the global food sovereignty movement (GFSM) as a convergence space, with a focus on constituencies and quotas as tools to maintain diversity while facilitating convergence. We show how the use of constituencies and quotas has supported two objectives of the GFSM: alliances building and effective direct representation in global policy-making spaces. We conclude by pointing to some convergence challenges the GFSM faces as it expands beyond its agrarian origins.</p

Interaction, Emotion, and Collective Identities

[Excerpt] This chapter poses the question: How do emotional aspects of social interaction affect the emergence and salience of collective identities? I assume that social interaction inherently involves an implicit or explicit joint task—namely to accomplish some result that can only be produced with others. The most fundamental “task” of social interaction can be construed as the coordination and alignment of behavior, such that actors successfully conclude the interact ion episode. Essential to this task is a working consensus about definitions of self and other in the social situation, i.e., consensual self-other identities. A central component of my argument is that social interaction has emotional effects that vary with the success of actors at accomplishing this fundamental task. This paper theorizes the conditions under which emotional effects of social interaction promote collective identities that bridge or transcend self-other role identities

Feminist frontiers

This is a very strong book, represebting key issues in gender and womens studies and intent on providing a broad series of analyses of each issue.xii, 559 p. ; 23 c

Feminist frontiers

Feminist frontiers is an excellent combination of scholarly articles and personal narratives. The students engage with the personal narratives immediately. The shapters are organized well and offer comprehensive topics that easily lend themselves to organizing an introductory clas

Hospital Emergency Facilities in a Disaster: An Analysis of Organizational Adaptation to Stress

Voluntary general hospitals may be viewed as emergency organizations in that the emergency treatment of the sick and injured is a part of their normal operations. The typical emergency patient most often becomes an input into the organization through the emergency facility of the hospital (Stallings, 1970). While under ordinary conditions an emergency case can be handled rather routinely in the emergency facility of the hospital, during crisis or large-scale disaster situations, the ongoing capability of the organization is likely to be inadequate to meet the sudden increase in demands it must now confront. When this situation occurs, the organization can be though of as experiencing stressCenter for Studies of Mental Health and Social Problems, Applied Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health