In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood wit... more In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood within a transient Society, Greece, that was framed in the course of a clinical research. The main goal of this study was to describe the social psychological dynamics and long term dimension of the phenomenon through analysis of interviews with young men becoming fathers for the first time in their lives. The theoretical framework and the social psychological context of the research are presented, together with the analyses of two accounts by fathers interviewed each three times, before and after their child's birth. This clinical material serves as an illustration of the psychodynamic processes of going into fatherhood and points to two dimensions: one is intrapersonal (essentially marked by identifications to parental images) and the other interpersonal (essentially marked by the relationships with the partner). Analysis of the subjects' affects and representations shows that resolution of conscient and unconscious conflicts which takes place during the going into fatherhood are dependent on the process of disengagement from the family of origin and on the ability of both partners to construct a conjugal space. Men (and fathers-to-be) when faced with the situation may either confine themselves to culturally established schemes or/and their own history, or find a new meaning to their personal and relational life.
boards of trustees, and many fellow faculty members—to see “knowledge as product rather than proc... more boards of trustees, and many fellow faculty members—to see “knowledge as product rather than process” [194]). I would then argue that, where human dignity matters, scientists ought not to treat humanity in the same ways that they treat billiard balls: positivist social science, modeled on the natural sciences, offers a kind of predictability and control over humanity that ethnography cannot. (Whether it actually delivers is another story.) But even the most well-intentioned offer of scientistic prediction and/or control of humans is always already a violation of human dignity in a way that careful ethnographic inquiry need not be. So, yes, for the social sciences, more nuance does mean better. At the very least, more nuance can help problematize, if not pull the rug out from under, certain generalizations—utilized for social prediction-and-control— posing as Truths. In choosing to conduct careful ethnography instead of positivist research, Sutton (wittingly or unwittingly) models the analogy of careful ethnography to Kalymnian cooking as “really addressing questions of what kind of person we want to be and what kind of society we want to live in” (47). One soon gets the impression that good ethnographic inquiry is, like Kalymnian cooking, inefficient; that it, too, involves Pye’s “workmanship of risk” (193), does not take “convenience” as one of its “core values” (45), and is “an imperfect pursuit” (196) and “a project without an end point” (23). Although this is only a short review (by an academic generalist influenced by schizoanalysis) of but one good ethnography, my take on Sutton’s book leaves me wondering about recent academic books in general: What if much of today’s (peer-reviewed) humanities and social science scholarship—supporting, to be sure, in myriad little ways, the value of democratic-knowledge-construction-and-evaluation—is also some sort of collective defense mechanism that helps repress the mounting evidence that institutional space for democratic-knowledge-construction-and-evaluation that values human dignity (that is, the academy at its best) is being, or is about to be, crushed like a juicy heirloom tomato by neoliberalist forces much closer to home than we are usually prepared to acknowledge? (What if my review here amounts to little more than my own coping strategy?)
In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood wit... more In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood within a transient Society, Greece, that was framed in the course of a clinical research. The main goal of this study was to describe the social psychological dynamics and long term dimension of the phenomenon through analysis of interviews with young men becoming fathers for the first time in their lives. The theoretical framework and the social psychological context of the research are presented, together with the analyses of two accounts by fathers interviewed each three times, before and after their child's birth. This clinical material serves as an illustration of the psychodynamic processes of going into fatherhood and points to two dimensions: one is intrapersonal (essentially marked by identifications to parental images) and the other interpersonal (essentially marked by the relationships with the partner). Analysis of the subjects' affects and representations shows that resolution of conscient and unconscious conflicts which takes place during the going into fatherhood are dependent on the process of disengagement from the family of origin and on the ability of both partners to construct a conjugal space. Men (and fathers-to-be) when faced with the situation may either confine themselves to culturally established schemes or/and their own history, or find a new meaning to their personal and relational life.
‘Greece is under the protection of the Virgin Mary; we have nothing to fear’, a deputy of the New... more ‘Greece is under the protection of the Virgin Mary; we have nothing to fear’, a deputy of the New Democracy conservative party (ND) argued.1 This statement was pronounced during a severe political crisis at the time of the formation of the coalition government under Prime Minister Papadimos. Admittedly, that particular deputy has a very crude populist orientation, but the above statement could have easily been evoked (possibly in a more sophisticated fashion) by many of his colleagues across several parties. Clearly, politicians employing such discourse present themselves as guardians of the supposedly threatened national identity, drawing from the deep-rooted identification of the Greek nation with Orthodoxy, and appealing to the empirically documented high and widespread religiosity of the Greek people.
The Athens Technological Educational Institute (TEI) as a new organization confronts problems of ... more The Athens Technological Educational Institute (TEI) as a new organization confronts problems of institutional identity and legitimation. Within this context the present study attempts to define the educational environment of the TEI by assessing expectations of incoming students and evaluations of graduating students (N = 1,213). Student concerns were focused on teacher effectiveness, instructional quality and the need for information on occupations. Personal motivation, attitudes toward future occupation and school affiliation were found to predict both expectations and evaluations. Educational and social background characteristics were mostly insignificant. The implications of the findings for policy formulation are discussed.
This paper describes the psychological and psychosocial aspects of prenatal care, which are belie... more This paper describes the psychological and psychosocial aspects of prenatal care, which are believed to be of particular importance for medical/psychological practice. The emotional changes that “normally” take place during pregnancy are surveyed and evidence is provided linking these changes with potential adverse effect on pregnancy and labour. The salience of anxiety and life stresses in pregnancy research is highlighted
In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood wit... more In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood within a transient Society, Greece, that was framed in the course of a clinical research. The main goal of this study was to describe the social psychological dynamics and long term dimension of the phenomenon through analysis of interviews with young men becoming fathers for the first time in their lives. The theoretical framework and the social psychological context of the research are presented, together with the analyses of two accounts by fathers interviewed each three times, before and after their child's birth. This clinical material serves as an illustration of the psychodynamic processes of going into fatherhood and points to two dimensions: one is intrapersonal (essentially marked by identifications to parental images) and the other interpersonal (essentially marked by the relationships with the partner). Analysis of the subjects' affects and representations shows that resolution of conscient and unconscious conflicts which takes place during the going into fatherhood are dependent on the process of disengagement from the family of origin and on the ability of both partners to construct a conjugal space. Men (and fathers-to-be) when faced with the situation may either confine themselves to culturally established schemes or/and their own history, or find a new meaning to their personal and relational life.
boards of trustees, and many fellow faculty members—to see “knowledge as product rather than proc... more boards of trustees, and many fellow faculty members—to see “knowledge as product rather than process” [194]). I would then argue that, where human dignity matters, scientists ought not to treat humanity in the same ways that they treat billiard balls: positivist social science, modeled on the natural sciences, offers a kind of predictability and control over humanity that ethnography cannot. (Whether it actually delivers is another story.) But even the most well-intentioned offer of scientistic prediction and/or control of humans is always already a violation of human dignity in a way that careful ethnographic inquiry need not be. So, yes, for the social sciences, more nuance does mean better. At the very least, more nuance can help problematize, if not pull the rug out from under, certain generalizations—utilized for social prediction-and-control— posing as Truths. In choosing to conduct careful ethnography instead of positivist research, Sutton (wittingly or unwittingly) models the analogy of careful ethnography to Kalymnian cooking as “really addressing questions of what kind of person we want to be and what kind of society we want to live in” (47). One soon gets the impression that good ethnographic inquiry is, like Kalymnian cooking, inefficient; that it, too, involves Pye’s “workmanship of risk” (193), does not take “convenience” as one of its “core values” (45), and is “an imperfect pursuit” (196) and “a project without an end point” (23). Although this is only a short review (by an academic generalist influenced by schizoanalysis) of but one good ethnography, my take on Sutton’s book leaves me wondering about recent academic books in general: What if much of today’s (peer-reviewed) humanities and social science scholarship—supporting, to be sure, in myriad little ways, the value of democratic-knowledge-construction-and-evaluation—is also some sort of collective defense mechanism that helps repress the mounting evidence that institutional space for democratic-knowledge-construction-and-evaluation that values human dignity (that is, the academy at its best) is being, or is about to be, crushed like a juicy heirloom tomato by neoliberalist forces much closer to home than we are usually prepared to acknowledge? (What if my review here amounts to little more than my own coping strategy?)
In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood wit... more In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood within a transient Society, Greece, that was framed in the course of a clinical research. The main goal of this study was to describe the social psychological dynamics and long term dimension of the phenomenon through analysis of interviews with young men becoming fathers for the first time in their lives. The theoretical framework and the social psychological context of the research are presented, together with the analyses of two accounts by fathers interviewed each three times, before and after their child's birth. This clinical material serves as an illustration of the psychodynamic processes of going into fatherhood and points to two dimensions: one is intrapersonal (essentially marked by identifications to parental images) and the other interpersonal (essentially marked by the relationships with the partner). Analysis of the subjects' affects and representations shows that resolution of conscient and unconscious conflicts which takes place during the going into fatherhood are dependent on the process of disengagement from the family of origin and on the ability of both partners to construct a conjugal space. Men (and fathers-to-be) when faced with the situation may either confine themselves to culturally established schemes or/and their own history, or find a new meaning to their personal and relational life.
‘Greece is under the protection of the Virgin Mary; we have nothing to fear’, a deputy of the New... more ‘Greece is under the protection of the Virgin Mary; we have nothing to fear’, a deputy of the New Democracy conservative party (ND) argued.1 This statement was pronounced during a severe political crisis at the time of the formation of the coalition government under Prime Minister Papadimos. Admittedly, that particular deputy has a very crude populist orientation, but the above statement could have easily been evoked (possibly in a more sophisticated fashion) by many of his colleagues across several parties. Clearly, politicians employing such discourse present themselves as guardians of the supposedly threatened national identity, drawing from the deep-rooted identification of the Greek nation with Orthodoxy, and appealing to the empirically documented high and widespread religiosity of the Greek people.
The Athens Technological Educational Institute (TEI) as a new organization confronts problems of ... more The Athens Technological Educational Institute (TEI) as a new organization confronts problems of institutional identity and legitimation. Within this context the present study attempts to define the educational environment of the TEI by assessing expectations of incoming students and evaluations of graduating students (N = 1,213). Student concerns were focused on teacher effectiveness, instructional quality and the need for information on occupations. Personal motivation, attitudes toward future occupation and school affiliation were found to predict both expectations and evaluations. Educational and social background characteristics were mostly insignificant. The implications of the findings for policy formulation are discussed.
This paper describes the psychological and psychosocial aspects of prenatal care, which are belie... more This paper describes the psychological and psychosocial aspects of prenatal care, which are believed to be of particular importance for medical/psychological practice. The emotional changes that “normally” take place during pregnancy are surveyed and evidence is provided linking these changes with potential adverse effect on pregnancy and labour. The salience of anxiety and life stresses in pregnancy research is highlighted
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