scholarly journals Sober Rebels or Good Consumer-Citizens? Anti-Consumption and the ‘Enterprising Self’ in Early Sobriety

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003803852098183
Author(s):  
Emily Nicholls
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
The Self ◽  
Lifestyle Choice ◽  
Self And Identity ◽  
Enterprising Self ◽  
Recovery Models ◽  
The Uk

Former drinkers in the UK are required to negotiate sobriety in a society that positions consumption (of alcohol but also more widely) as an important part of identity formation. A refusal to consume risks positioning the self outside of the established neoliberal order, particularly as traditional models of sobriety and ‘recovery’ position the non-drinker as diseased or flawed. As drinking rates decline across western contexts and new movements celebrating sobriety as a positive ‘lifestyle choice’ proliferate, this article will highlight ways in which sober women rework elements of traditional recovery models in order to construct an ‘enterprising self’ who remains a good consumer-citizen despite – or indeed because of – their refusal to drink. In doing so, this article enhances our understandings of the ways in which neoliberal notions of a successful, enterprising self can be incorporated into (re)constructions of the self and identity by ‘anti-consumers’ more widely.

The Dynamics of Society-in-the-Self

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert J. M Hermans
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
The Self ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
The World ◽  
Self And Identity ◽  
New Vision ◽  
New Phenomena ◽  
The Relationship

In the field of tension between globalization and localization, a set of new phenomena is emerging showing that society is not simply a social environment of self and identity but works in their deepest regions: self-radicalization, self-government, self-cure, self-nationalization, self-internationalization, and even self-marriage. The consequence is that the self is faced with an unprecedented density of self-parts, called I-positions in this theory. In the field of tension between boundary-crossing developments in the world and the search for an identity in a local niche, a self emerges that is characterized by a great variety of contradicting and heterogeneous I-positions and by large and unexpected jumps between different positions as the result of rapid and unexpected changes in the world. The chapter argues that such developments require a new vision of the relationship between self and society.

scholarly journals Communities and the individual: Beyond the liberal–communitarian divide

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-401
Author(s):  
Volker Kaul
Keyword(s):  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Significant Others ◽  
The Self ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Self And Identity ◽  
Default Position ◽  
The Individual

Liberalism believes that individuals are endowed a priori with reason or at least agency and it is up to that reason and agency to make choices, commitments and so on. Communitarianism criticizes liberalism’s explicit and deliberate neglect of the self and insists that we attain a self and identity only through the effective recognition of significant others. However, personal autonomy does not seem to be a default position, neither reason nor community is going to provide it inevitably. Therefore, it is so important to go beyond the liberal–communitarian divide. This article is analysing various proposals in this direction, asks about the place of communities and the individual in times of populism and the pandemic and provides a global perspective on the liberal–communitarian debate.

The Covid-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom and subjective well-being: Have the self-employed suffered more due to hours and income reductions?

2021 ◽  
pp. 026624262098676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Yue ◽  
Marc Cowling
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Rare Events ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Self ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Hours Of Work ◽  
Period Data ◽  
The Uk

It is well documented that the self-employed experience higher levels of happiness than waged employees even when their incomes are lower. Given the UK government’s asymmetric treatment of waged workers and the self-employed, we use a unique Covid-19 period data set which covers the months leading up to the March lockdown and the months just after to assess three aspects of the Covid-19 crisis on the self-employed: hours of work reductions, the associated income reductions and the effects of both on subjective well-being. Our findings show the large and disproportionate reductions in hours and income for the self-employed directly contributed to a deterioration in their levels of subjective well-being compared to waged workers. It appears that their resilience was broken when faced with the reality of dealing with rare events, particularly when the UK welfare support response was asymmetric and favouring waged employees.

scholarly journals “Incompleteness” and the Quest for Multiple Identities in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 81-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard C. Lategan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
The Self ◽  
Important Goal ◽  
Alternative Approach

The article explores the contours of multiple identities in contrast to singular identities in situations of social complexity and cultural diversity. Nyamnjoh's concepts of “incompleteness” and “frontier Africans” imply an alternative approach to identity formation. Although the formation of one's own, singular identity is a necessary stage in the development of each individual, it has specific limitations. This is especially true in situations of complexity and diversity and where the achievement of social cohesion is an important goal. With reference to existing theories of identity formation, an alternative framework is proposed that is more appropriate for the dynamic, open-ended nature of identity and better suited to encourage the enrichment of identity. The role of imagination, a strategy for crossing borders (with reference to Clingman's concept of a “grammar of identity”), the search for commonality, and the effect of historical memory are discussed. Enriched and multiple identities are not achieved by replacement or exchange, but by widening (existing) singular identities into a more inclusive and diverse understanding of the self.

Studies of Compositional Variations in Germanium Quantum Dots Grown on Silicon

2000 ◽  
Vol 638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D.F. Dunbar ◽  
Matthew P. Halsall ◽  
Uschi Bangert ◽  
Alan Harvey ◽  
Philip Dawson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
The Self ◽  
Asymmetric Distribution ◽  
Scanning Transmission Electron ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Scanning Transmission ◽  
The Uk

AbstractWe report optical and scanning transmission electron microscopy studies of germanium dots grown on silicon. In an attempt to control the self-organized growth process and promote dot size uniformity the dot layers were grown on a 4.5nm Si0.6Ge0.4 alloy template layer. Photoluminescence results indicate the formation of carrier confining Ge rich islands, whilst Raman scattering results indicate the presence of an alloy throughout the structures formed. The samples were studied in the UK high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy facility at Liverpool, UK. Energy dispersive analysis of individual line scans through the sample show that the structures are composed of an alloy throughout with an asymmetric distribution of Germanium in the dots and in the wetting layer close to the dots. We discuss the results in the light of the proposed growth mode for these dots and conclude that attempts to manipulate the composition of these dots during growth may be problematic due to the self-organized nature of their formation.

The Appointed Actuary.

1987 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 559-629
Author(s):  
Edward A. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Professional Role ◽  
The Self ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Prudential Supervision ◽  
Government Supervision ◽  
The Uk

1.1 A paper about the Appointed Actuary is essentially a paper about prudential supervision of life insurance companies. The system which has operated in the UK since the mid-1970's is only partly one of Government supervision. Through the professional role of the Appointed Actuary, it also contains elements of a system of self-regulation with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries standing in place of SRO's. Unlike the self-regulatory arrangements of the Financial Services Act. though, this second part of the system has grown up by custom and practice and in certain respects it is not codified. However it enables the Insurance Companies Act to be operated successfully.

scholarly journals From passionate labour to compassionate work: Cultural co-ops, do what you love and social change

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisol Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Work Ethic ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Work Culture ◽  
Cultural Industries ◽  
Future Of Work ◽  
Interview Research ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Cultural Sector

This article focuses on the relation between work and pleasure in the cultural sector. I first unpack the concept of passionate work, situating it within four possible ways of relating work and pleasure. I argue that the work ethic of do what you love, contrary to what it promises, limits the prospects of loveable work. As part of a neoliberal work culture, do what you love transfers the battleground from society onto the self. It favours self-management over politics. Drawing on findings from interview research with members of worker co-operatives in the UK cultural industries, I then go on to explore the relation between work and pleasure within cultural co-ops. I discuss how cultural co-ops might inspire and contribute to a movement for transforming the future of work by turning the desire for loveable work from a matter of individual transformation and competition into a practice of co-operation and social change.

scholarly journals Revisiting Dearing: Higher Education and the Construction of the ’Belabored’ Self

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-753
Author(s):  
Alan Apperley
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
The Self ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Learning Society ◽  
Oil Crisis ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Uk Higher Education

Several authors have identified a ’therapeutic turn’ in education in the UK, at all levels of the system. In this paper I focus on and develop this claim, specifically in relation to the Higher Education sector. I seek to do two things: First, I argue that the ‘self’ which is identified by commentators on the therapeutic turn needs to be reworked in the direction of McGee’s idea of the ’belabored’ self. This is because the therapeutic turn serves, I argue, a set of wider economic goals arising from the restructuring of capitalism which followed in the wake of the oil crisis of 1973 and the subsequent breakdown of the post-war (1939-1945) consensus around the purpose of public policy, of which education is an important part. Second, I revisit an important document in the history of the UK Higher Education sector: the National Committee of Inquiry Into Higher Education’s 1997 report Higher Education In The Learning Society (known popularly as the Dearing Report, after its chair, Sir Ron Dearing). I argue that that the committee’s ambition to bring about a learning society characterised by lifelong learning played an important and neglected part in bringing about the therapeutic turn in higher education in the UK. The project of creating a learning society characterised by lifelong learning, advocated by the Dearing Report, should properly be recognised as an exhortation to embark upon a lifetime of labouring upon the self.

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