Pyrrho and Pyrrhonism

The chapter argues that Pyrrho and ancient Pyrrhonian skepticism (specifically, Sextus Empiricus) are plausibly interpreted as accepting a self-cultivation philosophy, though in somewhat different senses and with some qualification. For both, the existential starting point is an emotionally troubled life rooted in beliefs about the world, and the ideal state of being is a life of tranquility without these beliefs and guided by appearances. It is difficult to say what spiritual exercises Pyrrho thought were needed to achieve the ideal state: perhaps learning his philosophy and habituating ourselves to follow it. However, for Sextus, employment of skeptical arguments was the primary exercise. Since neither Pyrrho nor Sextus supposed we could make assertions about the specific nature of things, neither had a philosophy of human nature in a straightforward sense. Nonetheless, presentations of their outlooks betray some perspective on this (e.g., about the relationship between absence of belief and tranquility).

Au Revoir and Bonjour

This chapter focuses on transitions both personal and creative for Steiner. After his divorce from Louise, Max found happiness with a new companion, former singer Lee Blair. The end of World War II marked a change in Hollywood filmmaking styles, and Steiner responded to the darker, more mature movies being produced at Warner Bros. with a leaner, less Wagnerian style. Film noir titles like Howard Hawks’s The Big Sleep and Michael Curtiz’s Mildred Pierce benefited greatly from Max’s scoring, which added propulsive energy and extra layers of character illumination. But Steiner’s obsession with work, and his late-night gambling with friends like composer Victor Young, distracted Max from a growing problem at home: the erratic behavior of his emotionally troubled son, Ronald.

Music by Max Steiner

During a seven-decade career that spanned from 19th-century Vienna to 1920s Broadway to the golden age of Hollywood, three-time Academy Award winner Max Steiner did more than any other composer to establish and codify the language of film music. Composers today like John Williams use the same techniques perfected by the classically trained Steiner, in his scores for such motion pictures as Casablanca, King Kong, Gone with the Wind, The Searchers, Now, Voyager, the Astaire-Rogers musicals, and more than two hundred other titles. Steiner’s private life was as tumultuous as the films he scored. Born into an Austrian theatrical dynasty, he became one of Hollywood’s highest-paid composers. But he was constantly in debt, due to financial mismanagement, four marriages, and the actions of his emotionally troubled son. Steiner ended his career in triumph: at age 71, although practically blind, he wrote what Billboard called the most successful instrumental single of the era: “Theme from A Summer Place.” Throughout his chaotic life, Steiner was buoyed by a quick wit and an instinctive gift for melody, as he met and worked with a Who’s Who of artists: Johann Strauss Jr., Richard Strauss, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein, David O. Selznick, Frank Sinatra, Frank Capra, and many more. This first full biography of Steiner brings to life the previously untold story of a musical pioneer and master dramatist who helped create a vital new art form (and multimillion-dollar industry), while writing many of the greatest scores in cinema history.

‘Getting Naked with Gok Wan’: A psychoanalytic reading of How To Look Good Naked’s transformational narratives

Gok Wan’s television fashion series How To Look Good Naked (Channel 4, 2006–10) has vividly revolutionized the self-improvement genre. By developing a playful, caring and female-friendly makeover platform that values the articulation of emotional experiences in relation to the body, the series facilitates the exploration of the inner layers of subjectivity through the psychological exercises and self-reflective practices that Gok Wan sets out for his subjects. Playful mechanisms of creativity are central to his makeover practice, integrating fashion techniques and stylistic practices to encourage his female participants to reflect upon and make sense of their emotionally troubled experiences in relation to the body. Makeover props belonging to his female subjects play a fundamental role in activating a process of self-reflection and exploration of the self through relatedness. Through the close textual analysis of How To Look Good Naked (Series 2 Episode 6), this article applies Donald Woods Winnicott’s psychoanalytic ideas (1957, 1963, 1960, 1971), to argue that the creative dimensions of Gok Wan’s makeover technique reveal an object relating psychoanalytic process that entails a form of therapeutic playing; one that allows his female participants to restore aspects of self in relation to the body and to gain an emotional awareness of these experiences that leads eventually to self-discovery and self-acceptance. Ultimately, this reading of Gok Wan’s method confirms the emotional and cultural value of makeover narratives to generate rich opportunities that enrich notions of inner-self experience.

University Students’ Perceptions of Parents and Childless or Childfree Couples

Earlier studies have documented persistent negative stereotypes of childless or childfree adults, though acceptance has increased in recent decades. Recent studies have also shown negative biases against parents, especially mothers, in work-related contexts. The current study used college students’ responses to hypothetical vignettes ( N = 1,266) to compare perceptions of childless and childfree adults and parents using means comparisons with generalized linear modeling methods, controlling for student and vignette characteristics. Results showed that parents were perceived as warmer, but with less positive marital relationships, than those without children. Mothers were perceived as more stressed and childless men and women as more emotionally troubled, but there were few differences in work-related perceptions. Childless wives with no plans to have children were perceived as least warm, whereas husbands were perceived as least stressed. Results indicate some persistent negative stereotypes of childless adults along with negative perceptions of stress and marital strains related to parenthood.

Professional Agency, Identity, and Emotions While Leaving One’s Work Organization

This study investigated the enactment of professional agency in an emotionally troubled work context emerging from a conflicted relationship between the professional and the work organization. Narrative interviews with Finnish educators were utilized. The findings indicate that the enactment of agency was in part framed by the educators’ rational interpretations of the relationship between themselves and their employer, plus their work history and future prospects. However, it was simultaneously embedded with contradictory emotions, such as a sense of being undervalued, fear, and a sense of empowerment. Within this framework, multifaceted professional agency was enacted particularly via leaving the organization. This was also a means of upholding one’s professional identity and resisting the organization’s work practices. The paper contributes to the theorizing of professional agency, particularly regarding its emotional dimension, and elaborates the significance of an emotional relationship between professionals and their organizations. Keywords: career, educators, emotions, meaningful work, narrative research, professional agency, professional identity

University Students’ Perceptions of Childless Couples and Parents in Ankara, Turkey

Changing perceptions of childlessness have been documented in the United States, but little is known about perceptions in developing countries undergoing rapid social changes and globalization, including Turkey. This project uses a survey and hypothetical vignettes about childless couples and parents to assess university students’ perceptions of childlessness ( N = 850). The authors find that parents are rated higher on interpersonal warmth and marital relationship quality, but mothers are seen as more stressed. Childless men and women are perceived as more driven but also as more emotionally troubled. The results indicate the continued importance of parenthood among Turkish students but also an understanding of women’s stresses in combining work and motherhood. The authors find relatively few rural and urban differences, whereas gender and income differences may reflect greater awareness of work—family concerns and acceptance of childlessness among women and higher income students.