
Institutional Selves
Troubled Identities in a Postmodern World
Published on 21. September 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-19-512928-1 (ISBN)
Description
Today, identities are conferred and selves are constructed in more organizational settings than ever before. Institutions large and small - from Psychiatric hospitals, schools, and prisons, to job clinics, counselling centres, support groups - virtually instruct us about who and what we are as part of the work they do in processing lives and personal troubles. Some see this negatively, as if the self might somehow escape these developments. But there is a more balanced view that acknowledges the socially practical self we live by, which is constructed in light of these new and diverse opportunities. If organizations inevitably shape selves in today's world, they do so by providing the resources, not just the constraints, that enter into the process. New institutions produce new forms of self by presenting new options for who and what we are and can be, while they also place practical limits on the range of possible identities. This is the leading theme of Institutional Selves. The book brings together nine distinctive chapters that collectively address the institutional construction of troubled selves.
From the victims and villains of television talk shows, to battered women in support groups, to the violent selves of prison inmates, the chapters show how personal identity is structured in response to the pragmatic demands of everyday life in the ubiquitous settings where personal troubles are under increasing consideration.
From the victims and villains of television talk shows, to battered women in support groups, to the violent selves of prison inmates, the chapters show how personal identity is structured in response to the pragmatic demands of everyday life in the ubiquitous settings where personal troubles are under increasing consideration.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
14 line illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-512928-1 (9780195129281)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Preface Notes on Contributors Introduction: Trying Times, Troubles Selves Part I: Institutional Identities Kathleen S. Lowney and James A. Holstein: Victims, Villains, and Talk Show Selves Melvin Pollner and Jill Stein: Doubled Over in Laughter: Humor and the Construction of Selves in Alcoholics Anonymous Gale Miller: Changing the Subject: Self-Construction in Brief Therapy Darin Weinberg: Self-Empowerment in Two Therapeutic Communities Part II: Constructing Institutional Selves Donileen R. Loseke: Lived Realities and Formula Stories of "Battered Women" Joseph Hopper: Contested Selves in Divorce Proceedings Susan E. Chase: Universities as Discursive Environments for Sexual Identity Construction J. William (Jack) Spencer: Self-Presentation and Organizational Processing in a Human Service Agency Kathryn J. Fox: Self-Change and Resistance in Prison Author Index Subject Index