Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and s... more Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and social conditions. Neoliberalism has extensively permeated societies worldwide, changing the way individuals, especially youth, make sense of their surroundings and themselves. There is thus an increasing need to investigate how youth subjectivities are influenced in contemporary societies that are under the influence of neoliberalism. Through an analysis of the future orientation of youth, we can investigate discourses that shape youth subjectivities. In this study, we perform a Foucauldian discourse analysis of the future orientation of youth — high school students, from two national contexts, Turkey and Norway — who were asked to write an essay on their personal futures. We investigate what dominant discourses are revealed in the youths' writings and how they may influence their subjectivities and well-being. We detail two frameworks of discourses, one pertaining to materialism and the other pertaining to education and career, that our participants drew upon in their writings. We relate these discourses to neoliberalism and discuss the extent to which youth constitute themselves as neoliberal subjects of their respective societies. We discuss how these discourses may also be related to their well-being in diverse ways.
A longitudinal analysis (1984–2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how t... more A longitudinal analysis (1984–2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how the current globalized capitalist market ideology is now permeating this long-established Scandinavian welfare state. This ideological shift carries powerful implications for community psychology, as traditional welfare state values of equal services based on a universalistic principle are set aside, and social and material inequalities are increasingly accepted. The methodology developed in the present study may serve as a ''barometer of community changes'', to borrow a metaphor used by Sarason (2000).
Well-being is a widely discussed topic in research, policy, and media. This study was aimed at ex... more Well-being is a widely discussed topic in research, policy, and media. This study was aimed at examining usage patterns of core terminology related to well-being in Norwegian newspapers during the past two decades. Specifically, we investigated occurrence across time of 39 words describing well-being facets from four theoretical perspectives: affective approaches, cognitive or life satisfaction approaches, eudaimonic and humanistic approaches, and character strengths. Four major newspapers were selected in order to capture sociocultural and regional variation. Evidence of significant changes in usage frequency was detected for about half of the search terms. Affective words showed variable trends, while usage of words referring to satisfaction declined. The most notable magnitude of change concerned the increase in eudaimonic words related to mastery, motivation, and self-development. Findings suggest that core vocabulary of well-being belongs to a changeable field of linguistic practice. Implications for positive psychology are proposed.
The tasks, working situation, and professional role assigned to applied social scientists are ana... more The tasks, working situation, and professional role assigned to applied social scientists are analysed. The processes of basic and applied social research are systematically compared, and it is demonstrated how applied social research has to meet all the cnteria of traditional basic research as well as the specific criterion of social relevance. The problem of how to develop adequate critena
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 0031383820260301, Jul 7, 2006
Nafstad, H.E. 1982. Preschool Children: Inquiry into Interconnections between Social Class, Langu... more Nafstad, H.E. 1982. Preschool Children: Inquiry into Interconnections between Social Class, Language and Training Programs. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 26, 121‐139. Over the last few years there has been an increasing interest in the development and education of preschool children. Especially, there has been great interest in the linguistic and conceptual development of those categories of children who are most likely to become losers at school. Various attempts at reaching future school losers at an early stage to give them a better start in life ‐ for instance, by means of special preschool training programs — have not been unequivocally successful, however. The present article undertakes a critical examination of the basic premises underlying linguistic and conceptual training programs for preschool children. It is shown how widely used preschool programs are based on inadequate assumptions concerning language, language use and communication.
Page 1. The child's development environment: the nursery school as a welfare component Hilde... more Page 1. The child's development environment: the nursery school as a welfare component Hilde Eileen Nafstad, Norway The contention that the nursery school* does not occupy a natural place in the child's wel-fare situation ...
Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and s... more Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and social conditions. Neoliberalism has extensively permeated societies worldwide, changing the way individuals, especially youth, make sense of their surroundings and themselves. There is thus an increasing need to investigate how youth subjectivities are influenced in contemporary societies that are under the influence of neoliberalism. Through an analysis of the future orientation of youth, we can investigate discourses that shape youth subjectivities. In this study, we perform a Foucauldian discourse analysis of the future orientation of youth — high school students, from two national contexts, Turkey and Norway — who were asked to write an essay on their personal futures. We investigate what dominant discourses are revealed in the youths' writings and how they may influence their subjectivities and well-being. We detail two frameworks of discourses, one pertaining to materialism and the other pertaining to education and career, that our participants drew upon in their writings. We relate these discourses to neoliberalism and discuss the extent to which youth constitute themselves as neoliberal subjects of their respective societies. We discuss how these discourses may also be related to their well-being in diverse ways.
A longitudinal analysis (1984–2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how t... more A longitudinal analysis (1984–2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how the current globalized capitalist market ideology is now permeating this long-established Scandinavian welfare state. This ideological shift carries powerful implications for community psychology, as traditional welfare state values of equal services based on a universalistic principle are set aside, and social and material inequalities are increasingly accepted. The methodology developed in the present study may serve as a ''barometer of community changes'', to borrow a metaphor used by Sarason (2000).
Well-being is a widely discussed topic in research, policy, and media. This study was aimed at ex... more Well-being is a widely discussed topic in research, policy, and media. This study was aimed at examining usage patterns of core terminology related to well-being in Norwegian newspapers during the past two decades. Specifically, we investigated occurrence across time of 39 words describing well-being facets from four theoretical perspectives: affective approaches, cognitive or life satisfaction approaches, eudaimonic and humanistic approaches, and character strengths. Four major newspapers were selected in order to capture sociocultural and regional variation. Evidence of significant changes in usage frequency was detected for about half of the search terms. Affective words showed variable trends, while usage of words referring to satisfaction declined. The most notable magnitude of change concerned the increase in eudaimonic words related to mastery, motivation, and self-development. Findings suggest that core vocabulary of well-being belongs to a changeable field of linguistic practice. Implications for positive psychology are proposed.
The tasks, working situation, and professional role assigned to applied social scientists are ana... more The tasks, working situation, and professional role assigned to applied social scientists are analysed. The processes of basic and applied social research are systematically compared, and it is demonstrated how applied social research has to meet all the cnteria of traditional basic research as well as the specific criterion of social relevance. The problem of how to develop adequate critena
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 0031383820260301, Jul 7, 2006
Nafstad, H.E. 1982. Preschool Children: Inquiry into Interconnections between Social Class, Langu... more Nafstad, H.E. 1982. Preschool Children: Inquiry into Interconnections between Social Class, Language and Training Programs. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 26, 121‐139. Over the last few years there has been an increasing interest in the development and education of preschool children. Especially, there has been great interest in the linguistic and conceptual development of those categories of children who are most likely to become losers at school. Various attempts at reaching future school losers at an early stage to give them a better start in life ‐ for instance, by means of special preschool training programs — have not been unequivocally successful, however. The present article undertakes a critical examination of the basic premises underlying linguistic and conceptual training programs for preschool children. It is shown how widely used preschool programs are based on inadequate assumptions concerning language, language use and communication.
Page 1. The child's development environment: the nursery school as a welfare component Hilde... more Page 1. The child's development environment: the nursery school as a welfare component Hilde Eileen Nafstad, Norway The contention that the nursery school* does not occupy a natural place in the child's wel-fare situation ...
Uploads
Papers by Hilde Nafstad